NFL on Fox is the brand name of the
Fox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
's coverage of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
's
National Football ConferenceThe National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
games, produced by
Fox SportsFox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
. Game coverage is usually preceded by the pre-game show
Fox NFL SundayFox NFL Sunday is the pregame show for the TV show NFL on Fox. The program is broadcast on Fox television affiliates nationwide. The audio portion of the show is broadcast over the Fox Sports Radio network, distributed by Premiere Radio Networks...
and followed by
The OT, a postgame show with the
Fox NFL Sunday hosts, between the end of the last game and the start of
prime timePrime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
programming.
Theme music
The broadcast's distinctive
theme musicTheme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
has been used since its inception in
1994The 1994 NFL season was the 75th regular season of the National Football League. To honor the NFL's 75th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season...
. Derivatives of the
NFL on Fox theme have been incorporated throughout Fox Sports' programming, including
Fox Sports NetThe Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
, as Fox Sports' overall theme, and Fox registered the original theme as a U.S. trademark in 2006. The theme was produced by
Scott SchreerScott Schreer is an award-winning BMI composer and producer of theme songs for television programs, including NFL on Fox, NHL on Fox, MLB on Fox, NASCAR on Fox, Hope and Faith, The Cosby Show, and The O'Reilly Factor. As a musician and producer, he has garnered six Emmy nominations and has...
through his production company NJJ Music. The theme was composed by Scott Schreer, Reed Hays and Phil Garrod. When there is an injury timeout on the playing field, Fox generally cuts to commercial using a remix where a piano replaces the horns section while playing the main theme.
In October 2010, the
NFL on Fox theme was implemented on all Fox Sports properties, including baseball. It was first implemented on the network's baseball broadcasts beginning with the
2010 National League Championship Series-Game 1:Saturday, October 16, 2010 — 7:30 p.m. at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaIn one of the most touted postseason pitching matchups in recent history, two former Cy Young Award winners faced off: Roy Halladay for the Phillies and Tim Lincecum for the Giants...
and then was implemented on its
NASCAR broadcastsNASCAR on Fox is the Emmy-winning branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts of NASCAR races airing on the Fox network since 2001. The production has been in high-definition since 2005.-Background:...
in 2011. As a result of Fox using its NFL theme during the
2010 MLB playoffs-Game 1:Saturday, October 16, 2010 — 7:30 p.m. at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaIn one of the most touted postseason pitching matchups in recent history, two former Cy Young Award winners faced off: Roy Halladay for the Phillies and Tim Lincecum for the Giants...
, there has been some backlash from fans who preferred to hear the theme that Fox used for MLB in the past. A poll by Sports Media Watch noted that as of October 23, 2010, while nearly 60% of fans thought that Fox made a bad move, only 10% thought it was a good move and 30% had no opinion (all percentages rounded). Four
FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
pages have been also created as a result of this change, A campaign has been started to bring the MLB theme back to Fox baseball broadcasts. Another one has been started as well to bring the original NASCAR theme (the one used from 2001–2007) back to Fox NASCAR coverage. A FB page called "The Fox Sports Theme Music Restoration Project" has also been launched, while the other group has been started to remove Eric Shanks (who is responsible for this decision) as President of Fox Sports.
History
Though
FoxFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
was growing rapidly as a network, and had established itself as a presence, it was still not considered a major competitor to the "
big threeBig Media is a term sometimes applied to the predominant Media organisations in the United States. In Broadcast media, it may refer to the oldest and largest television networks, such as CBS, ABC and NBC...
" broadcast networks (
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
). Fox management, having seen the critical role that soccer programming had played in the growth of British satellite service BSkyB, believed that sports, and specifically professional football, would be the engine that would make Fox a major network the quickest.
Early bids
To this end, Fox bid aggressively for football from the start. In
1987The year 1987 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1987.For American TV schedule, see: 1987–88 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:...
(Fox's first full year on the air), after
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
initially hedged on renewing its contract to carry
Monday Night FootballMonday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
, Fox offered the NFL to pick up the contract for the same amount ABC had been paying, about
$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.3 billion at the time. However, the NFL, in part because Fox had not established itself as a major network, chose to renew their contract with ABC.
Meanwhile, after the Fox Television Network was launched,
United States Football LeagueThe United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...
founder
David DixonDavid Dixon was an American businessman and sports executive who helped create the New Orleans Saints NFL team, the Louisiana Superdome, World Championship Tennis and the United States Football League...
proposed the "American Football Federation", which would have 10 teams and draft academically ineligible high school graduates.
Despite a few successful shows, the network did not have a significant market share until the early 1990s when News Corp. bought more TV station groups, such as
New World CommunicationsNew World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
and
Chris-Craft IndustriesChris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats...
' BHC Communications and United Television, making it the largest owner of television stations in the United States. The time now filled by the
NFL on Fox on Sunday afternoons was formerly in the control of the stations themselves, who usually filled them with either weekend syndicated series or Sunday afternoon movie blocks.
Fox outbids CBS for the NFC package
Six years later, when the football contract was up for renewal again, Fox made what at the time, was a bold and aggressive move to acquire the rights. Knowing that they would likely need to bid considerably more than the incumbent networks to acquire a piece of the package, Fox bid
$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.58 billion for four years of rights to the
NFCThe National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
, exceeding CBS' bid by more than $100 million a year. The NFC was considered the more desirable conference (as opposed to the
AFCThe American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
package that
NBCNFL on NBC is the brand given to NBC Sports coverage of National Football League games until 1998, when NBC lost the NFL American Football Conference rights to CBS...
carried at the time) due to its presence in most of the largest U.S. markets, such as
New YorkThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
,
ChicagoThe Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, and
PhiladelphiaThe Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. To the surprise and shock of many, in late 1993, the NFL selected the Fox bid, in the process stripping
CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
of football for the first time since
1956The 1956 NFL season was the 37th regular season of the National Football League. CBS became the first network to televise some regular season games across the nation...
. Fox's coverage would start in the
1994 seasonThe 1994 NFL season was the 75th regular season of the National Football League. To honor the NFL's 75th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season...
.
CBS apparently underestimated the value of its rights with respect to its
advertisingAdvertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
revenues and to its
promotionalPromotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
opportunities for other network programming. Indeed, Fox was still an upstart player in 1993, not yet considered on par with the "Big Three" networks--
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
,
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. It had already had offbeat hits such as
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
,
Married...With Children and
Beverly Hills, 90210Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
, but had no news or sports divisions, and its coverage was significantly weaker than that of its elder counterparts.
CBS personalities move to Fox
However, the vast resources of
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
allowed the network to grow quickly, primarily to the detriment of CBS. After bringing in David Hill from Murdoch's U.K.-based
Sky SportsSky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
to head-up the new Fox Sports division, Fox raided the
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...
staff, hiring longtime producer Ed Goren as Hill's second-in-command, plus CBS personalities such as
Pat SummerallGeorge Allen "Pat" Summerall is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, Fox, and ESPN.Summerall is best known for his work with John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox.-High school:...
, John Madden, James Brown,
Terry BradshawTerry Paxton Bradshaw is a former American football quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League . He played 14 seasons. He is a football analyst and co-host of Fox NFL Sunday...
,
Matt MillenMatthew George "Matt" Millen is an American former National Football League linebacker and a former executive. Millen played for the Oakland Raiders, the San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Redskins. In Millen's 12-year NFL playing career, he played on four Super Bowl-winning teams...
, and
Dick StocktonDick Stockton is an American sportscaster. He is currently employed by Fox Sports and Turner Sports as a football, baseball, and basketball play-by-play announcer.-Early life and career:...
, all of whom were prominently featured in Fox's NFL coverage.
In spring 1994, Fox's parent
News CorporationNews Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
struck an alliance with
New World CommunicationsNew World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
, by now a key ownership group with several
VHFVery high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
CBS affiliates in NFC markets, and wary of a CBS without football. Nearly all of New World's stations converted
en masse to Fox beginning that fall. The rights gave Fox many new viewers (and affiliates) and a platform for advertising its other shows.
A brand new era
Fox's acquisition of football was a watershed event not only for the network but for the NFL as well. Not only was it the event that placed Fox on a par with the "big three" broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) but it also ushered in an era of growth for the NFL which continues on largely to this day.
While the heavy concentration of population in NFC markets – as opposed to the smaller markets generally served by the AFC – virtually guaranteed a substantial audience, its instant success has nonetheless been remarkable given the substantial differences between Fox's coverage and the coverage provided by
ABCMonday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
,
CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
,
ESPNESPN Sunday Night Football is the ESPN cable network's weekly television broadcasts of Sunday evening National Football League games. The first ESPN Sunday night broadcast occurred on November 8, 1987, while the last one aired on January 1, 2006....
, TNT, and
NBCNFL on NBC is the brand given to NBC Sports coverage of National Football League games until 1998, when NBC lost the NFL American Football Conference rights to CBS...
up to that time.
"Same Game, New Attitude"
Fox's launch slogan was
"Same Game, New Attitude." Indeed, its studio show focused more on entertainment and less on in-depth discussion of X's and O's. It also introduced bolder and innovative graphics, for instance, a continuous on-screen time-and-score graphic that Hill had originally used on
Sky SportsSky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
's coverage of the Premier League. Fox also used
parabolic microphoneA parabolic microphone is a microphone that uses a parabolic reflector to collect and focus sound waves onto a receiver, in much the same way that a parabolic antenna does with radio waves...
s to include the sounds of the stands and of the on-field action. These innovations were quickly adopted by rival networks and helped to drive the development of further innovations such as the virtual first-down line.
Post-game show: The OT
In
2005The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League.With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...
, the
NFL on Fox decided to name its post-game show
The OT and expand it to the full hour before 8pm ET/7pm CT in order to remove the possibility of ratings damage to new episodes and series in that slot which traditionally were pre-empted by games most every week to viewer frustration for fans of those programs and to keep the remainder of Fox's Sunday night schedule on track to allow Fox's local stations to start their primetime newscasts on time (expendable reruns of Fox's animated series air in other equivalent time zones). In part, this was done as an
in-jokeAn in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
to promote Fox's Thursday soap
The O.C.The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
, which began its third season in September 2005. That program ended in May 2007; however
The OT has been retained as the post-game show title to the present day. The program usually goes to fill the full hour, which provides some form of competition to NBC's
Football Night in AmericaFootball Night in America is the studio pregame show usually preceding NBC's broadcasts of Sunday night and Wild Card Saturday National Football League games starting in the 2006 National Football League season...
.
Changes for 2006
After the
2005The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League.With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...
season, James Brown left Fox to return to
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...
, where he would be the host of
The NFL TodayThe NFL Today is an American sports series that precedes the American football program The NFL on CBS on CBS Sports. The program usually airs at noon on Sundays of the National Football League regular season...
. On August 16,
2006The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
, after weeks of speculation, the network officially announced that
Joe BuckJoseph Francis "Joe" Buck is an American sportscaster and the son of legendary sportscaster Jack Buck. He has won numerous Sports Emmy Awards for his play-by-play work with Fox Sports.-Education:...
would take over the role. The move also changed the show from a permanent Los Angeles studio into a portable studio configuration, similar to the pregame show for
NASCAR on FoxNASCAR on Fox is the Emmy-winning branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts of NASCAR races airing on the Fox network since 2001. The production has been in high-definition since 2005.-Background:...
, where analysts
Terry BradshawTerry Paxton Bradshaw is a former American football quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League . He played 14 seasons. He is a football analyst and co-host of Fox NFL Sunday...
,
Howie LongHoward "Howie" Matthew Moses Long is an American former National Football League defensive end and actor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000...
, and
Jimmy JohnsonJames William "Jimmy" Johnson is an American former NCAA and National Football League head coach. As of 2010, he is currently an analyst for Fox NFL Sunday, the Fox network's NFL pregame show. He was the first football coach whose teams won both an NCAA Division 1A National Championship and a...
joined Buck at the game to which Buck is assigned as play-by-play announcer.
Curt MenefeeCurt Menefee , is an American sportscaster who is the host of the Fox network's NFL show Fox NFL Sunday. His co-hosts are Jimmy Johnson, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Michael Strahan....
worked all halftime shows and all postgame shows on non-doubleheader Sundays, also from the same game site with the same analysts. Menefee hosted
Fox NFL Sunday during the several weeks in October when Buck was not available; during that time, Buck called Major League Baseball postseason games, including the
World SeriesThe World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
. The October 15, 22 and 29 shows were broadcast from the
Los AngelesLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
studios; the show returned to the road on November 5.
It was also announced that weather reporter Jillian Barberie (now Jillian Reynolds) would not return for the coming season, as Barberie wished to stay at home in Los Angeles with her family. Barberie did participate in at least one of the studio shows.
During the 2006 season,
Chris RoseChristopher Rose is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Rose attended University School in Hunting Valley during high school. Rose attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and graduated in 1993...
provided updated highlights during the game from the Los Angeles studio as a
voice talentVoice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
.
On November 17,
2006The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
, a source told the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that the final two pregame shows of
2006The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
would take place in the Los Angeles studios, with Buck hosting and
Dick StocktonDick Stockton is an American sportscaster. He is currently employed by Fox Sports and Turner Sports as a football, baseball, and basketball play-by-play announcer.-Early life and career:...
taking Buck's place at the games alongside
Troy AikmanTroy Kenneth Aikman is a former American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League. The number one overall draft pick in 1989, Aikman played twelve consecutive seasons as quarterback with the Cowboys...
. The source cited that declining
ratingsNielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
no longer justified its high production costs, including
securitySecurity is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
expenses. A Fox spokesman would only say that changes were being considered.
2006 playoffs controversies
The Fox Broadcasting Company came under fire by the
Parents Television CouncilThe Parents Television Council is a U.S. based advocacy group founded by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995 using the National Legion of Decency as a model...
for showing a
New Orleans SaintsThe 2006 New Orleans Saints season began with the team trying to improve on their 3-13 record in 2005. All of the team's 2006 regular season home games were played in the Louisiana Superdome, which had been damaged all of the previous season by Hurricane Katrina...
fan wearing a shirt reading
"F**K DA EAGLESThe 2006 Philadelphia Eagles season ended in the Eagles finishing 10–6, reclaiming the NFC East, and winning a playoff game at home. The season ended in a Divisional Round playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints, but was seen as a success in the face of the adversity of losing starting quarterback...
" in Saints colors. Three days after the broadcast, the network apologized. The Saints fan, Heather Rothstein, was contacted by
Maxim magazine and was given a photo shoot.
Also during the 2006 NFC Championship between the
Chicago BearsThe 2006 Chicago Bears season was their 87th regular season and 25th post-season completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 13-3 regular season record, the best in the NFC, improving on their previous year’s record of 11-5...
and the
New Orleans SaintsThe 2006 New Orleans Saints season began with the team trying to improve on their 3-13 record in 2005. All of the team's 2006 regular season home games were played in the Louisiana Superdome, which had been damaged all of the previous season by Hurricane Katrina...
at
Soldier FieldSoldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
, in one shot from the overhead camera angle of the crowd, three Bears fans were seen giving a
middle finger gestureIn Western culture, the finger , also known as the middle finger, is an obscene hand gesture, often meaning the phrases "fuck off" , "fuck you" or "up yours"...
towards the field.
Changes for 2007
After the 2006 NFL season,
Fox NFL Sunday returned to the Los Angeles studio throughout the entire 2007 regular season and for the 2 weeks of that year's postseason. Curt Menefee became the full-time host of the pregame show, while Joe Buck reverted to play-by-play only.
2010 Monday night special
Fox presented a limited Monday night game between the
New York GiantsThe 2010 New York Giants season was the 86th season for the team in the National Football League and the team's inaugural season in New Meadowlands Stadium. The Giants improved on their 8–8 2009 record by finishing 10–6 and second place in the NFC East...
and
Minnesota VikingsThe 2010 Minnesota Vikings season was the franchise's 50th season in the National Football League, and the fifth under head coach Brad Childress until November 22, when he was fired and Leslie Frazier was named interim head coach...
on December 13,
2010The 2010 NFL season was the 91st regular season of the National Football League.The regular season began with the NFL Kickoff game on NBC on Thursday, September 9, at the Louisiana Superdome as the New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl XLIV champions, defeated the Minnesota Vikings 14–9.Tom Brady,...
, which was only made available to the main markets of both teams (on
WNYWWNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
in New York, Albany's
WXXA-TVWXXA-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's Capital District and Western New England. Licensed to Albany, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter southwest of New Scotland's Voorheesville section. The station can also be seen...
,
KMSPKMSP-TV, channel 9, is the Fox-owned-and-operated television station serving the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota designated market area, owned in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WFTC...
in the Twin Cities, Rochester's
KXLTKXLT-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Southeastern Minnesota and Northeastern Iowa. Licensed to Rochester, Minnesota, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 46 from a transmitter in Frankford Township, Minnesota. The station can also be seen on Mediacom and...
and in Duluth,
KQDS-TVKQDS-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Twin Ports and Iron Range areas of Northeastern Minnesota that is licensed to Duluth. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 17 from a transmitter west of downtown in Hilltop Park. Owned by Red River Broadcasting, the...
). The game had been originally scheduled to be played on the afternoon on December 12, but due to the collapse of the roof of the
MetrodomeThe Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, commonly called the Metrodome, is a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Opened in 1982, it replaced Metropolitan Stadium, which was on the current site of the Mall of America in Bloomington and Memorial Stadium on the University...
due to a heavy snow event early that morning, the game was moved on short notice to
Ford FieldFord Field is an indoor American football stadium located in Detroit, Michigan, USA, that is the current home field of the NFL's Detroit Lions. It is owned by the Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority. It regularly seats 65,000, though it is expandable up to 70,000 for football and 80,000 for...
in Detroit as that facility already had their full television setup still in place after a
PackersThe 2010 Green Bay Packers season was the 90th season in the National Football League for the Packers and the 92nd season for the team overall. With a record of 10–6, the Packers entered the playoffs as the NFC's sixth seed...
/
LionsThe 2010 Detroit Lions season was the franchise's 81st season in the NFL. It was Jim Schwartz's second season as head coach. The Lions spent most of the season at the bottom of their division, but with more division wins than the Vikings , the Lions ended up at 3rd place on the final day of the...
game. Fox Sports had kept their cameras on in the Metrodome overnight the night before the original date of the game and captured the roof collapse in full detail; the video of multiple angles of the early morning collapse was aired on that morning's
Fox NFL Sunday and quickly went
viralA viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
.
Coincidentally, this was the first game since
1992The 1992 NFL season was the 73rd regular season of the National Football League.Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Andrew, the New England Patriots–Miami Dolphins game that was scheduled for September 6 at Joe Robbie Stadium was rescheduled to October 18. Both teams originally had that...
that
Brett FavreBrett Lorenzo Favre is a former American football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League . He was a 20-year veteran of the NFL, having played quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons , Green Bay Packers , New York Jets and Minnesota...
did not start an NFL game, as he was made inactive due to a shoulder injury, ending his streak of 297 consecutive regular season games; Tavaris Jackson started in his place. In addition, it was the first ever regular-season Monday night game in
Ford FieldFord Field is an indoor American football stadium located in Detroit, Michigan, USA, that is the current home field of the NFL's Detroit Lions. It is owned by the Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority. It regularly seats 65,000, though it is expandable up to 70,000 for football and 80,000 for...
.
Digital on-screen graphics
In its debut in the
1994 seasonThe 1994 NFL season was the 75th regular season of the National Football League. To honor the NFL's 75th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season...
, Fox's coverage featured the first "
scoring bugA digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
." A transparent white half-capsule-shaped graphic in the upper left corner of the screen displayed the score and game clock throughout the entire telecast, an NFL first.
1996–2000
By
1996The 1996 NFL season was the 77th regular season of the National Football League and the season was marked by notable controversies from beginning to end...
, the graphic changed to a full-statistics panel, where down and distance, penalty, and key in-game statistics would pop in and out when necessary. It was named the "FOX BOX", and its basic design mimicked the "FOX BOX" used in Fox's MLB coverage. For Fox's coverage of
Super Bowl XXXIIISuper Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played on January 31, 1999, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion, following the 1998 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football...
at the end of the
1998 seasonThe 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.The Tennessee Oilers moved their home games from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, still awaiting construction on a new stadium in Nashville.This was the first season that CBS...
, the starting lines ups were shown using a virtual TV. To TV viewers, it appeared as if the end zone opened up and a giant TV came up out of the ground. The virtual TV displayed video announcing the starting line ups. The virtual TV effect was provided by
PVI Virtual Media ServicesPVI Virtual Media Services is one of the companies behind the virtual yellow-down-line shown on television broadcasts of American football games in the USA and Canada...
using their
L-VISPVI Virtual Media Services is one of the companies behind the virtual yellow-down-line shown on television broadcasts of American football games in the USA and Canada...
virtual graphics system.
2001–2002
In
2001The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League.Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day...
, Fox implemented a new graphics package for NFL telecasts, an updated version of the 1998 design, but the graphic changed from a bug to a banner spanning the top of the screen, and included a scrolling graphic displaying real-time scores of other games in progress. A simple black rectangle with a shaded transparent area spanned the top of the screen from left to right, displaying the abbreviations of both teams in white. The scores would be shown in white boxes next to the team. The center showed the game clock in white, to its right was the quarter ("1st QTR", "2nd QTR", etc.), and to the right of the quarter was the play clock. The far right was the
NFL on Fox logo. For the
2002The 2002 NFL season was the 83rd regular season of the National Football League.The league went back to an even number of teams, expanding to 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texans. The clubs were then realigned into eight divisions, four teams in each...
season, the white scoring boxes where changed to yellow. This was first seen during
Super Bowl XXXVISuper Bowl XXXVI was an American football game played on February 3, 2002 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 2001 regular season. The American Football Conference champion New England Patriots won their first Super...
. This was also the last year that a team's initials would flash in its two primary colors along with percussive sound beats when that team scored (for example, when the
Green Bay PackersDuring the 2002 Green Bay Packers season, the team completed a 12-4 regular season with before losing in the Wild Card playoff round to Michael Vick's Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau Field...
scored a touchdown on Fox, the "GB" initials and box would flash in green and gold for a few seconds as the six points for the TD were added, then again with the extra point). This banner was used for
Major League Baseball on Fox broadcasts through most of the 2004 season.
2003–2005
The banner was given a cosmetic upgrade beginning with the
2003 season-Milestones:The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:-Team:-Individual:-Awards:-External Links:**-References:*NFL Record and Fact Book *...
. Instead of a large black rectangle, the banner alternated between a large back rectangle and several small, black parallelograms, and the shaded area above it was removed. Instead of abbreviations for the teams, their logos were now used. During the 2003 NFL playoffs, the logos were reduced in size, and the team abbreviations were put back beside them. The banner returned to a large black rectangle at the start of the
2004 seasonThe 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League.With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005...
. with the team logos looking more "3-dimensional", and electronic lettering in the team's main color was used whenever that certain team calls timeout, scores a touchdown, or a field goal. It would be in red whenever the team challenges a play. Also during a touchdown or field goal, the right side of the banner would have a split flashing "light", then the words "TOUCHDOWN or FIELD GOAL" and the team's name in electronic lettering moving left. Midway through
2004The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League.With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005...
, the team logos were replaced with the abbreviations. This time, they were electronic lettering in the team's main color, and this was first seen on
Major League Baseball on Fox postseason broadcasts that year. When team-specific information was displayed in the banner, such as the hang time of a punt or a touchdown, the abbreviation would change back to the team's logo. During the 2005 holiday season, for the week 15 Saturday game (
Tampa BayThe 2005 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season began with the team trying to improve on their 5-11 record in 2004. Carnell Williams won rookie of the year....
at
New EnglandThe 2005 New England Patriots season was the 36th season for the team in the National Football League and 46th season overall. They finished with a 10–6 record and the division title before losing in the playoffs to the Denver Broncos....
), a new white banner, resembling a chrome finish and first introduced at the start of Fox's coverage of the
2005 World SeriesThe 2005 World Series, the 101st Major League Baseball championship series, saw the American League champion Chicago White Sox sweep the National League champion Houston Astros four games to none in the best-of-seven-games series, winning their third championship and first since 1917.Home-field...
, debuted with animated snow accumulating on top. Periodically an animated snowplow would clear the screen of snow. The following week, the new banner was adopted for all games, however without the snow animation. The team abbreviations became white letters against the team's main color. This banner was used for
Major League Baseball on Fox broadcasts through the
2007 seasonThe 2007 Major League Baseball season, began on April 1 with a rematch of the 2006 National League Championship Series; the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets played the first game of the season at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, which was won by the Mets, 6–1...
.
2006–2009
The newest iteration of the scoring banner for the
2006 seasonThe 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
features the real-time scores as a permanent fixture on the extreme right side of the bar, while the coloring of the banner changes to the colors of the team currently possessing the ball.
During playoff games and games featured on special days or holidays (such as the
Thanksgiving ClassicThe National Football League's Thanksgiving Classic is a series of games played during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. It has been a regular occurrence since the league's inception in 1920. Since 2006, three games are played every Thanksgiving...
, AFC vs. NFC game), the scoring bar instead shows either the NFL Thanksgiving Classic logo, the NFL Divisional Playoffs/NFC Championship logo, or a special banner celebrating whichever holiday falls during that week from Fox Sports (for instance,
confettiConfetti is a multitude of pieces of paper, mylar or metallic material which is usually thrown at parades and celebrations, especially weddings . Confetti is made in a variety of colors, and commercially available confetti is available in imaginative shapes...
and a party horn with a traditional
Happy New YearNew Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
message).
At the beginning of the 2006 season, a virtual on-field graphic showing an arrow pointing towards the direction of advancement and the down/yardage information began to be used on all plays. This feature was then added by the
NFL on CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
,
NBC Sunday Night FootballNBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color...
,
NFL NetworkNFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...
's
Run to the PlayoffsThursday Night Football is the brand name used by NFL Network for its schedule of live regular season telecasts of National Football League games on Thursday nights. Also included in the package are some Saturday specials....
and (beginning with the
2008 seasonThe 2008 NFL season was the 89th regular season of the National Football League, themed with the slogan "Believe in Now."Super Bowl XLIII, the league's championship game, was at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on February 1, 2009, with the Pittsburgh Steelers coming out victorious over the...
)
ESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's
Monday Night FootballMonday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
broadcasts. At the same time, the down/yardage information also displays on the scoring banner, resulting in duplicate presentation of the same information. The bar has also been enhanced for
HDTVHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
and is thinner than previous versions, with little transparency. Also, the
NFL on Fox logo is on the far left instead of the far right. On the HDTV broadcasts, the area above the banner features a translucent slanting pattern going from left-to-right across the screen. During the 2006 preseason telecasts, the quarter was indicated by illuminating four buttons (number of buttons lit indicated the quarter), but due to visibility difficulties, the quarter returned to being numerically represented for the regular season.
On rare occasion during a game in which the field lines are not visible (such as those dealing with snow or rain), a small bug pops up on the bottom left side of the screen with the logo of the team who currently has possession as well as text indicating where the ball is (e.g. Arizona-Own 41 Yard Line.)
Most recently, scores from other NFL games that appear on the right side of the banner would have an arrow indicating which team had the ball, as of November 15, 2009. When the arrow is red, it means that the team is at the redzone. Fox's NFL telecasts were the only major NFL telecasts to have no timeout indicators until the
2010 seasonThe 2010 NFL season was the 91st regular season of the National Football League.The regular season began with the NFL Kickoff game on NBC on Thursday, September 9, at the Louisiana Superdome as the New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl XLIV champions, defeated the Minnesota Vikings 14–9.Tom Brady,...
(see "2010-present" below for more), save for the number of timeouts that each team has on the right side of the banner.
December 31, 2006 San Francisco/Denver game
There was one exception to this package for the 2006 season, as Fox had to revert to the then-current
Fox Sports NetThe Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
(and former main Fox Sports) scoring banner and graphics package for its final regular season game of the year,
San Francisco 49ersThe 2006 San Francisco 49ers season began with the team trying to improve on their 4-12 record in 2005. Despite having improved from their previous two disastrous seasons and were in the top 10 best offense in the league in 2006 ,they missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year, continuing...
at
Denver BroncosThe 2006 Denver Broncos season began with the team trying to improve on their 13–3 record and make a return to the AFC Championship Game as they did in 2005.-Offseason:...
on December 31,
2006The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
, due to a second blizzard in a week hitting
DenverThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, preventing the usual amount of equipment for Fox's NFL coverage to arrive before the game.
FSN Rocky MountainRoot Sports Rocky Mountain is a regional sports network based in Denver, Colorado. The network is part of the DirecTV Sports Networks and is an affiliate of Fox Sports Net...
(Denver's FSN network) assisted in the production of the game on short notice by providing the graphical production and other production services. Also, the "
1st & Ten1st & Ten is the name for a computer system that generates and displays one version of the yellow first down line that a TV viewer sees during a live broadcast of a college or professional American football or Canadian football game A competing system that performs the same task using different...
" graphic lines denoting the
line of scrimmageIn American and Canadian football a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun...
and
first down lineA down is a period in which a play transpires in American and Canadian football.-Description:A down begins with a snap or free kick , and ends when the ball or the player in possession of it is declared down by an official, a team scores, or the ball or player in possession of it leaves the field...
were unavailable for this broadcast. This graphic was also used in Week 5 of the 2007 season in a game between the
Arizona CardinalsThe 2007 Arizona Cardinals season was the 88th season for the team in the National Football League, and their 20th season in Arizona. They improved upon their 5–11 record in 2006 after finishing last place in the NFC West, by finishing 8–8, but the failure of the Cardinals to qualify for the Super...
and
St. Louis RamsThe 2007 St. Louis Rams season was the 70th season for the team in the National Football League and their 13th in St. Louis, Missouri. This was the worst season for the Rams during their time in St. Louis up to this year, and their worst overall since 1991, when the Rams were in Los Angeles,...
.
2010-present
Fox's new graphics package for NFL games debuted during a pre-season game on August 19, 2010, as Fox began to broadcast their sports programming with graphics optimized for 16:9 displays rather than the 4:3 safe area and the network has asked cable and satellite providers to comply and use the #10
Active Format DescriptionIn television technology, Active Format Description is a standard set of codes that can be sent in the MPEG video stream or in the baseband SDI video signal that carries information about their aspect ratio and active picture characteristics...
code they now send out over Fox programming, which has 16:9 content display in
letterboxLetterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
ed mode on 4:3 screens (or to most viewers, the regular analog channel on their system), in concert with
Fox's news operationsFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
also going to full widescreen presentation. This was promoted in that first game by the Fox broadcast team as giving a 'widescreen viewing experience' to standard definition viewers, using the usual examples of more video information on the screen to demonstrate the new presentation (such as two cheerleaders off to the side displayed in a widescreen shot, but cut out of a 4:3 shot)
The graphics package is an updated version of the 2006 design, but utilizing a score box to the left side of the screen featuring team logos, with timeout indicators 'lighting' along each side of the box and the middle portion being used to relay time/quarter and scoring information, along with a
play clockA play clock is a timer designed to increase the pace in American football and Canadian football, similar to what a shot clock does in basketball...
indicator with only ten seconds before a snap must be made (which also appears within the on-field graphic). The Fox Sports logo is displayed on the right side of the screen and displays in-progress scores for other NFL and MLB games to its left, or an NFL event or playoff logo.
The new graphics package was adjusted more to fit in at the edge of the 4:3 frame after the pre-season games as many cable providers were unable to meet the Week One deadline of widescreen presentation on Fox's analog 4:3 channels. By Week 5 on October 11 however, most of the providers had complied with the AFD #10 edict in time for the
2010 NLCS-Game 1:Saturday, October 16, 2010 — 7:30 p.m. at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaIn one of the most touted postseason pitching matchups in recent history, two former Cy Young Award winners faced off: Roy Halladay for the Phillies and Tim Lincecum for the Giants...
starting the following Saturday, along with Fox's few low power analog television stations and secondary
digital subchannelIn broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
affiliates, and Fox began to present all graphics on one game per week to fit the 16:9 frame. This means for those cable systems yet to convert their Fox affiliate to 4:3 widescreen and during highlights packages seen on ESPN and NFL Network and local television and newscasts visual, textual and graphical information is compromised (only the home half of the score and a small bit of the clock is seen in the 4:3 frame), or the highlights will be presented in an undesired form of
windowboxingWindowboxing in the display of film or video occurs when the aspect ratio of the media is such that the letterbox effect and pillarbox effect occur simultaneously...
for 16:9/HD viewers who are watching a news operation which has not converted to high definition. Fox provides an alternate feed to the other networks (CBS, NBC, NFL Redzone) with the score box fitting the 4:3 frame for use in halftime shows and updates, and some games (mainly in markets with heavy translator station and digital subchannel presences) are still presented with graphics optimized for 4:3.
During Week 15 and 16, the top of the score box was covered with snow (with snowflakes falling on top of it) and the timeout indicators were changed to resemble strings of
Christmas lightsChristmas lights are lights used for decoration around Christmas. The use of decorative, festive lighting during the Christmas holiday season is a long standing tradition in many Christian cultures, and has been adopted as a secular practice in a number of other non-Christian, or predominantly...
in observance of the holiday season. When the score box animated away before a commercial break, the snow would fall off the box down through the bottom of the screen.
All other Fox Sports properties, including Speed,
Fox Sports NetThe Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
, and Fox Soccer, would also begin to phase in variants of this design throughout 2011. These graphics would also be adopted for Fox's college football coverage beginning with the
2011 Cotton Bowl ClassicThe 2011 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic was the 75th edition of the annual post-season college football bowl game that was part of the 2010–11 bowl season of the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game featured the LSU Tigers of the Southeastern Conference who defeated the Texas A&M Aggies of...
. However, NFL coverage remains the only variant of the package to exclusively use team logos on the scorebar, as all other variants (including college football) use only written team locations or initials.
Tweaks were made for the
2011 seasonThe 2011 NFL season, the 92nd regular season of the National Football League, began on Thursday, September 8, 2011 with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers defeating the New Orleans Saints 42–34 at Lambeau Field and will end with Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on...
, including the timeout indicators counting upward instead of downward, and scores from other games being moved to a ticker at the bottom of the screen instead of next to the Fox Sports logo. Also, the possession marker has been moved to appear along side the team that currently has the ball.
Ratings
Fox NFL SundayFox NFL Sunday is the pregame show for the TV show NFL on Fox. The program is broadcast on Fox television affiliates nationwide. The audio portion of the show is broadcast over the Fox Sports Radio network, distributed by Premiere Radio Networks...
had been the ratings leader among network pregame coverage from the time of its debut in 1994 (as, at the time, it was the only network pregame show to air for one hour prior to kickoff). In 2006, however, CBS'
The NFL TodayThe NFL Today is an American sports series that precedes the American football program The NFL on CBS on CBS Sports. The program usually airs at noon on Sundays of the National Football League regular season...
overtook the Fox pregame in the ratings. The swing in ratings was said to be correlated with the move of
Fox NFL Sunday host James Brown back to CBS, where he had been broadcasting before his jump to Fox in 1994.
Fox's
2008The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2008. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
telecast of
Super Bowl XLIISuper Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
was the 2nd most watched Super Bowl (
GiantsThe 2007 New York Giants season was the 83rd season for the New York Giants in the National Football League. The Giants finished the regular season 10–6 and in second place in the NFC East, improving upon their 8–8 record in 2006 in which they finished third in their division...
vs.
PatriotsThe 2007 New England Patriots season was the 38th season for the team in the National Football League and 48th season overall. They finished with a perfect 16–0 regular season record but lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII....
) in history, with 97.5 million viewers. It was also the second-most-watched TV program behind the
1983The year 1983 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1983.For the American TV schedule, see: 1983-84 United States network television schedule.-Events:...
M*A*S*H series finale. Coincidentally, the Phoenix area hosted
Super Bowl XXXSuper Bowl XXX was an American football game played on January 28, 1996 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona to decide the National Football League champion following the 1995 regular season...
(which aired on
NBCNFL on NBC is the brand given to NBC Sports coverage of National Football League games until 1998, when NBC lost the NFL American Football Conference rights to CBS...
), the third most viewed Super Bowl in NFL history, with 95.1 million viewers, in
1996The year 1996 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1996.For the American TV schedule, see: 1996-97 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
.
With an average US audience of 111 million viewers,
Super Bowl XLVSuper Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League champion for the 2010 season. The game was held at Cowboys Stadium in...
became the most-watched Super Bowl as well as the most-watched progam of any kind in American television history, beating the previous record of 106.5 million viewers for
Super Bowl XLIVSuper Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
. An estimated 162.9 million total viewers watched all or part of the game. The game drew a national household Nielsen rating of 46.0 and a 69 share. It drew a 59.7 local rating in both Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, the second-highest local rating for a Super Bowl after the 63.0 that
Super Bowl XXSuper Bowl XX was an American football championship game played on January 26, 1986 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1985 regular season...
drew in Chicago. In the host market of Dallas-Ft. Worth, the game drew a 53.7 rating.
In-game commentators (past & present)
External links