Imagine NFL on TV in the year 2030: Tom Brady out, Travis Kelce in?
You’d be surprised how many people play “Fantasy On-Air Staffing” in the sports media industry. I know a prominent ESPN guy who would staff the company’s on-air talent for fun if ESPN ever acquired the Olympics. (Since he’s often been called Olympic basketball, for a change, put me in front of Mike Breen broadcasting the Olympic song. “Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone wins the 400 meter hurdles… Bang!”)
As part of a request for reader questions a few weeks ago – read part 1 of the media mailbag here and part 2 here – I received a remarkable question from a reader named Joshua B.:
The year is 2030. Who are the top play-by-play and color commentators for NFL coverage on Amazon, CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC? In other words, are there any emerging play-by-play announcers and game analysts, current players or coaches who will shoot to the top?
Joshua’s question seemed like a fun exercise, so I thought I’d play it out in column form. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
First, 2030 isn’t that far away, and the NFL is currently in the early stages of new agreements with its media partners that began with the 2023 season and will run through the 2033 season. There’s a big caveat to the deal: The NFL can year (the 2029 season) to abandon its deals with NBC, CBS, Fox and Amazon and the following year with Disney/ESPN. You’d have to think the NFL will, so we can’t say for sure that the airlines in 2030 will be exactly the same as they are today. (I’m betting big Netflix will join in more fully by 2030.)
With the large-scale contractual situation mentioned above, I took a stab at what the top NFL standings might look like in 2030, based on the realities of contracts, ages, and just my own enjoyment:
Fox: Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen
ABC/ESPN: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman
CBS: Jim Nantz and Tony Romo
NBC: Mike Tirico and Mike Tomlin
Amazon: Ian Eagle and Sean McVay
Netflix: Adam Amin and Travis Kelce
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Fox
My choice of Olsen is based on the theory that Tom Brady will be gone from the stock market long before 2030. As I wrote in my column on Brady’s TV future in October, the production restrictions surrounding Brady’s participation are “unsustainable in the long term, and Brady will leave the booth well before the end of his contract.”
Burkhardt’s bosses, Eric Shanks and Brad Zager, firmly consider him the No. 1 play-by-play voice, and at 50, he’s a relative pup among the play-by-play names mentioned above. I think Olsen hangs around as Fox’s No. 2 analyst until Brady leaves, and then Olsen and Burkhardt re-establish themselves firmly as Fox’s top NFL team.
ABC/ESPN
The simplest prediction of the thought exercise. In my opinion, Buck and Aikman are the best working broadcast team today, and their move from Fox to ESPN seems to energize them. ESPN/ABC has the rights to Super Bowl LXV in 2031, and I don’t see any dramatic changes in the standings before that.
CBS
If the date of the question had been after 2030, I would predict a position change. CBS has the rights to Super Bowl LXII in 2028, and I don’t see them blowing up Nantz and Romo before then, given their contracts. I know CBS holds Matt Ryan in very high regard, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as their No. 1 game analyst at some point, but I’m sticking with Nantz and Romo – though I’m much less sure about this than me. Buck and Aikman.
NBC
Now it gets interesting. Tirico is the face of the sports division and, at 57 years old, will not be leaving anytime soon. Current analyst Cris Collinsworth is almost a decade older, and I could imagine Comcast/NBC wanting to move in a new direction by 2030. NFL producers who are part of pre-game production meetings with coaches have often talked about Tomlin, the current head of the Pittsburgh Steelers. coach, a man who should not be missed if he ever ends up in broadcasting, given his communication skills, transparency and origins.
Amazon has reportedly shown strong interest in Sean McVay before. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Amazon
My colleague Andrew Marchand reported in 2022 that Amazon Prime Video was rated high enough on McVay’s potential as a TV game analyst that it was considering an offer as high as five years and $100 million for an on-air role. McVay opted to return to coaching the Los Angeles Rams, but I think he’ll be working in broadcasting in 2030, so Amazon seems like an obvious choice.
I’m putting Eagle here with the caveat that he would be Nantz’s successor on CBS’s best NFL team if Nantz left early and focused solely on golf. Could Eagle work for both CBS (which does NCAA basketball) and Amazon (which does football and probably the NBA)? It is a much more possible scenario in 2030 than in 2024.
Netflix
It’s just hard to see a scenario where Netflix doesn’t have an NFL gaming package in the 2030s. Kelce’s name recognition has increased exponentially thanks to a woman named Taylor Swift (USA Today boldly proclaimed this week that “The Kelces are the new royal family of media”), and he co-hosts one of the most popular podcasts in America. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is clearly interested in creating content in a post-NFL life (the dude is currently hosting a game show), and networks will be lining up to get him on board. Netflix also likes the celebrity crossover, given the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul promotion and other sports-related products.
Would Kelce be good as a game analyst? Who knows? But he’ll get a job if he wants one, and that’s why we’re putting him here. Amin is a quality broadcaster regardless of assignment and currently calls NFL games for Fox with Mark Sanchez. Let’s hope Amin and Kelce’s broadcast doesn’t have any buffering or streaming issues.
(Top photo of Travis Kelce: Chris Delmas / AFP)
