Longtime broadcaster Greg Gumbel took time out from his busy schedule covering the NCAA Tournament to speak on the massive shifts that have been occurring in the NFL broadcasting world.
Gumbel made an appearance on Sports Illustrated's, "Media Podcast," and was asked about the large contracts that Joe Buck and Al Michaels are receiving for calling NFL games. Having once been the top play-by-play guy for CBS over 20 years ago, the 75-year-old made it clear that he's not jealous of the money those guys are making, but does assure that no one tunes into NFL games on Sundays for the announcers.
“I will tell you, it has gotten crazy. I don’t have any need to be jealous of it. I’ve been treated really nicely and have always been appreciative of what I’ve been able to do for a long, long time,” Gumbel said. “So I think that doesn’t apply to me. What does tickle my thought process is, I’ve never felt in my entire life there is an announcer who can bring someone to the TV set to watch a game that that viewer wasn’t already going to watch. And I believe the only thing a broadcaster can do is chase people away.”
If you want to know just how much Gumbel thinks broadcasters are unnecessary-- he claims that Michaels and Collinsworth had an "advantage" over the rest of the competition due to calling the best game of the week, and said that even "Moe, Larry, and Curly" of the Three Stoges could call a decent football game.
“There are some other things that happened, too. The games that the people who are making this money are calling are really good games. People have said to me, ‘Oh, Al [Michaels] and Cris [Collinsworth] did a great job on Sunday night.’ Yeah, they always do a great job. However, they do the best game of the week. Moe, Larry and Curly--no offense to anyone calling games-- can do a good football game.”
Gumbel also subliminally threw shade at a number of announcers that he claims if he were to hear them calling a game, he would change the channel.
“I know this for a fact because--I won’t name them--but there are three or four announcers, ‘Oh, I’m really interested in watching, oops, nope, click, gone.’ I truly believe that. I don’t think that someone is tuning in just to hear a particular person call a football game,” Gumbel said.
Gumbel's hot takes come as a result of a large deals ESPN and Amazon are giving to top NFL broadcasters. I mean whether you agree or disagree with Gumbel's takes, the "overpaying" and "overvaluing" networks are throwing money at guys who've never even stepped in a booth. Think Fox trying to lure Sean Payton or Amazon shelling out a ton of money to the Sean McVay.
Joe Buck, along with his partner Troy Aikman, decided to leave Fox after over 20 years together to earn a hefty salary at ESPN calling games for Monday Night Football. Al Michaels left NBC for Amazon, where he will be working alongside Kirk Herbstreit on Thursday Night Football. According to Andrew Marchand of the NY Post, Buck inked a five-year deal worth $60-75 million.
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