The NFL Today is a
TV showA television program , television programme , or television show is a segment of content broadcast on television...
that precedes the
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
program
The NFL on CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the American Football Conference, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage:...
on
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS which airs many of the sports telecasts in the United States.CBS Sports broadcasts programs like NFL on CBS, The NFL Today, Southeastern Conference football, NCAA basketball, PGA golf, and professional tennis....
. The program usually airs at
noonNoon is the hour of 12:00 in an observer's local time zone, or more loosely, a time near the middle of the day when workers in many countries take a meal break...
(ET) on Sundays of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest 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 its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
regular seasonThe National Football League season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon. Exceptions are one game each week being played on Sunday night, and another game being played...
. The hosts and studio analysts on the program comment on the latest NFL events and make their game predictions.
Dawn of the pregame format (1961–1974)
On September 17,
1961The 1961 NFL season was the 42nd regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 14 teams with the addition of the Minnesota Vikings, after the team's owners declined to be charter members of the new American Football League. The schedule was also expanded from 12 games per...
,
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS which airs many of the sports telecasts in the United States.CBS Sports broadcasts programs like NFL on CBS, The NFL Today, Southeastern Conference football, NCAA basketball, PGA golf, and professional tennis....
broadcast the first remote 15-minute pre-game show, the first of its kind on network sports television.
Pro Football Kickoff (with host
Johnny LujackJohn Christopher Lujack Jr. is a former American football quarterback and 1947 Heisman Trophy winner.Lujack was born on January 4, 1925, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He played college football for the University of Notre Dame, and professionally for the Chicago Bears...
) originated from NFL stadiums around the country with a comprehensive look at all the day's games.
During the
1964 NFL seasonThe 1964 NFL season was the 45th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season started, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle reinstated Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras, who had been suspended for the 1963 season due to...
,
Frank GiffordFrancis Newton "Frank" Gifford is a former American football player and American sportscaster.-Early life:Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Lola Mae and Weldon Gifford, an oil driller...
began hosting
NFL Report, which later that season would be retitled
The NFL Today. This version of
The NFL Today was a 15-minute, regional sports program that presented interviews with National Football League players and coaches, and news and features about the NFL.
In
1967The 1967 NFL season was the 48th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 16 teams with the addition of the New Orleans Saints. The league's teams were realigned into four divisions: the Capitol and Century Divisions in the Eastern Conference, and the Central and...
,
The NFL Today expanded to a 30-minute format preceding game coverage.
On September 20,
1970The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League, and the first one after the AFL-NFL Merger.The merger forced a realignment between the combined league's clubs. Because there were 16 NFL teams and 10 AFL teams, three teams needed to transfer to balance the two new...
,
The NFL Today signed industry-pioneering women: Marjorie Margolies, who produced and reported features and actress Carole Howey, who also reported. Margolies would win election to the
U.S. HouseThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
in 1992 as Marjorie Margolies-Mezsvinsky.
In
1971The 1971 NFL season was the 52nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl VI when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Miami Dolphins...
,
Jack WhitakerJack Whitaker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC.-Early life and career:...
and
Pat SummerallGeorge Allen "Pat" Summerall is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, FOX, and ESPN....
took over hosting duties on
The NFL Today from Frank Gifford, who left CBS to call play-by-play on ABC's
Monday Night FootballMonday Night Football is a live television broadcast of the National Football League. Originally airing on the ABC network from to , Monday Night Football was the second longest running prime time show on American broadcast network television and one of the highest-rated, particularly among male...
.
In
1973The 1973 NFL season was the 54th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl VIII when the Miami Dolphins defeated the Minnesota Vikings.-Jersey numbering system:...
,
The NFL Today began originating from CBS' New York studios. It now included reports from stadiums around the country.
In
1974The 1974 NFL season was the 55th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl IX when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings.-Major rule changes:...
, CBS abandoned the pre-recorded
NFL Today show and its quickie wrap-up show,
Pro Football Report, for a live, wrap-around style show entitled
The NFL on CBS. It would start one-half hour before kickoff of either the singleheader or doubleheader telecast (12:30, 1:30 or 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time).
On September 15,
1974The 1974 NFL season was the 55th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl IX when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings.-Major rule changes:...
, the revamped progam debuted with a new three-segment format: highlights of the day's games and commentary, special features shot during the week, and a third segment covering the day's sports news, including scores and highlights at halftime. The hosts were
Jack WhitakerJack Whitaker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC.-Early life and career:...
(brought into the studio after quite a few years at play-by-play) and
Lee LeonardLee Leonard is an American television personality who was involved in the launch of two of the most influential networks in TV history.-Early life:...
. The show broke ground in a number of ways: Being live, showing half-time highlights of other CBS games, and then wrapping up as a post-game show. CBS no longer called its stadium studios or its pre-game set
CBS Control, but the
CBS Sports Center. There would also no longer be a third member of an on-air crew stationed at CBS Control providing scores, halftime info and - time permitting - post-game interviews.
Musburger and Cross (1975–1989)
The
NFL Today title was reinstated in
1975The 1975 NFL season was the 56th regular season of the National Football League. The league made two significant changes to increase the appeal of the game:...
, a year in which it won 13
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
s, with journalist
Brent MusburgerBrent Woody Musburger is an American sportscaster for the ABC and ESPN television networks.-Early life and career:...
and former NFL player
Irv CrossIrvin Acie "Irv" Cross is a former professional American football cornerback and sportscaster.-Playing career:...
, and with former
Miss AmericaThe Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
Phyllis GeorgePhyllis Ann George Brown is an American businesswoman and a former sportscaster. She is a former Miss Texas and Miss America of 1971.-Early life:...
as one of the reporters.
Jimmy SnyderJimmy Snyder , better known as "Jimmy the Greek", was an American sports commentator and Las Vegas bookie.-Life and career:Snyder was born Dimetrios Georgios Synodinos in Steubenville, Ohio....
, nicknamed
The Greek, joined in
1976The 1976 NFL season was the 57th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 28 teams with the addition of the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers...
.
By this time, the show began the complex process of producing three separate live pregame, halftime and postgame programs for 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. games. Also for the first time, signature musical pieces are produced for NFL coverage.
1979The 1979 NFL season was the 60th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XIV when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams.-Major rule changes:...
was the first year the
Sports Emmy AwardsThe Sports Emmy Awards are presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of excellence in American sports television programming, including sports-related series, live coverage of sporting events, and best sports announcers...
were awarded to sports broadcasts; among the recipients was
The NFL Today.
Phyllis George was replaced by
Miss Ohio USAThe Miss Ohio USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Ohio in the Miss USA pageant.Ohio achieved success in the first decades of the Miss USA competition but has not done as well in recent years...
1978
Jayne KennedyJayne Kennedy is an NAACP Image Award-winning American actress, model and sportscaster....
from the
1978The 1978 NFL season was the 59th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded the regular season from a 14-game schedule to 16. Furthermore, the playoff format was expanded from 8 teams to 10 teams by adding another wild card from each conference...
to the
1979 NFL seasonThe 1979 NFL season was the 60th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XIV when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams.-Major rule changes:...
and left the program after the
1983 seasonThe 1983 NFL season was the 64th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVIII when the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins.-Major rule changes:...
. Jimmy Snyder was dismissed by
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS which airs many of the sports telecasts in the United States.CBS Sports broadcasts programs like NFL on CBS, The NFL Today, Southeastern Conference football, NCAA basketball, PGA golf, and professional tennis....
at the end of the
1987 seasonThe 1987 NFL season was the 68th regular season of the National Football League. A 24-day players' strike reduced the 16-game season to 15. The games that were scheduled for the third week of the season were canceled, but the games for weeks 4-6 were played with replacement players...
, one day after making comments about racial differences among NFL players on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 1988.
Gumbel and Bradshaw (1990–1993)
After the
1989 NFL seasonThe 1989 NFL season was the 70th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced his retirement...
, Musburger was abruptly fired following a power shift at CBS on April 1, 1990, while Cross was demoted to the position of game analyst. They were replaced by
Greg GumbelGreg Gumbel is an American television sportscaster. He is best known for his various assignments on the CBS network...
(former
WFANWFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
morning host and brother to
Bryant GumbelBryant Charles Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel.-Early life:...
), famous former
Pittsburgh SteelersThe Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are currently a member of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
quarterbackQuarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the center, in the middle of the offensive line. Quarterbacks are the leaders of the offensive team, responsible for calling the play in the huddle...
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...
and longtime sportswriter
Lesley VisserLesley Visser is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history, male or female, who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super...
, bringing a female reporter back to
The NFL Today for the first time since Phyllis George went on maternity leave during the
1983 seasonThe 1983 NFL season was the 64th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVIII when the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins.-Major rule changes:...
.
After the
1993 seasonThe 1993 NFL season was the 74th regular season of the National Football League. For the first time in league history, all NFL teams played their 16-game schedule over a span of 18 weeks. After the success of expanding the regular season to a period of 17 weeks in 1990, the league hoped this new...
, CBS Sports' contract with the NFL to transmit NFC games ended, and the NFC rights were passed to Fox Sports.
The NFL Today had a four-year break along with
The NFL on CBS from the
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...
to the
1997 NFL seasonThe 1997 NFL season was the 78th regular season of the National Football League. The Oilers relocated from Houston, Texas to Nashville, Tennessee...
s. Gumbel went over to
NBC SportsNBC Sports is the sports division of NBC. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games , the NFL, the NHL, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, the USGA Championships, Wimbledon, and the French Open, among...
, Bradshaw to
Fox NFL SundayFord Drive One Fox NFL Sunday is the pregame show for the TV show The 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 Visser to
Monday Night FootballMonday Night Football is a live television broadcast of the National Football League. Originally airing on the ABC network from to , Monday Night Football was the second longest running prime time show on American broadcast network television and one of the highest-rated, particularly among male...
on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American 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. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
. Gumbel and Visser would eventually return to CBS.
CBS reacquires rights (1998–present)
In
1998The 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...
, NBC Sports'
AFCThe American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . The other is the National Football Conference . This conference, along with the NFC, contains 16 teams...
contract expired, and CBS Sports took over the rights to telecast its games. Since then,
The NFL Today has not caught up with the TV ratings of
Fox NFL SundayFord Drive One Fox NFL Sunday is the pregame show for the TV show The 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...
, now its same-time competitor. However, it beat Fox in
2005The 2005 season of the National Football League was the 86th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...
and with recent additions from Fox, it is favored to win in
2006The 2006 season of the National Football League was the 87th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
. (NBC replaced ABC as the network for
prime timePrime time or primetime is the block of programming on television during the middle of the evening.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period, for example, from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm...
games, with the debut of
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 providing color...
.)
In
November 2004November 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
-Events:November 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
-Events:November 2004 : January -...
, the NFL signed 6-year contracts with CBS Sports (
$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
622.5 million per year) and
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
($712.5 million per year) to continue broadcasting their respective AFC and NFC games from the 2006 to the 2011 seasons.
Regular segments
The show includes segments like the
CarQuestCarquest Auto Parts is a chain of auto-supply stores. There are over 3,400 Carquest Auto Parts locations in North America. The company is a supplier to National Account customers like Goodyear, Firestone, CarMax, Meineke, Midas, American Tire Dealers. Carquest merged with Straus-Frank Company in...
Chalk Talk, in which commentators and program guests discuss team strategies, and
Outside the Huddle with computer-animated PUNT TV pregame host
Thurston Long, who makes fun of people around the NFL. He is electronically rendered by animators of Scripted Improv Media, Synergistix Media, and of
ViacomViacom , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks , and movie production and distribution with Paramount Motion Pictures Group. Paramount is also the distributor of movie studio DreamWorks...
(VIA), the publicly traded company that owns
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
itself, and with the help of animators and animation software of
face2faceFace2Face is the tenth album from R&B singer, Babyface.- Track listing :#Outside In/Inside Out #There She Goes #What If#Stressed Out #Baby's Mama#How Can U Be Down...
, a
joint ventureA joint venture is an entity formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. The parties agree to create a new entity by both contributing equity, and they then share in the revenues, expenses, and control of the enterprise...
of
Lucent TechnologiesLucent Technologies was a technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs. It was spun off from AT&T on September 30, 1996....
and other investors . On June 15, 2005, Viacom announced the spin-off its CBS division, which marked the end of
Outside the Huddle.
The commentators of
The NFL Today also comment on
The NFL on CBS on game updates, on the
SprintSprint Nextel Corporation is a telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas.The company owns and operates the third-largest wireless telecommunications network in United States, with 49.3 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility.Sprint is a global Internet carrier ...
Halftime Report and on the
SubwaySubway is a fast food franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches, salads and personal pizzas. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with approximately 31,835 restaurants in 91 countries as of September 2009...
Postgame Show.
At the start of that same 2003 regular season, CBS Sports introduced the new theme song
Posthumus Zone"Posthumus Zone" is a song composed by the Los Angeles electronic music group E.S. Posthumus for the TV programs The NFL on CBS and The NFL Today on CBS Sports...
for
The NFL Today and for
The NFL on CBS. The song was made by
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
electronicaElectronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
group
E.S. PosthumusE.S. Posthumus is an independent music group that produces cinematic style music. It is a form of epic classical that fuses intertwined drum beats with orchestral and electronic sounds. Their music is inspired by the Pythagorean Philosophy which states that "music is the harmonization of...
, which is called that way because it composes songs that have dead ancient cities as a
motifIn music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition...
.
In
2006
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2006.-January:*January 10 - Eric Burdon releases his album Soul of a Man and begins touring with a new band....
, E.S. Posthumus released their second CD,
Rise to Glory, with the
Posthumus Zone on it and with a remix of the
Posthumus Zone called
Rise to Glory. The song
Rise to Glory was also featured on
The NFL Today and on
The NFL on CBS during the
2005 NFL seasonThe 2005 season of the National Football League was the 86th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...
.
Studio sets
Nowadays, the program usually runs on Sunday at noon, Eastern Time, and lasts one hour. The outdoor studio, which was used during the fall, was set up on Sunday mornings at a plaza in front of the reflecting glass structure of the Apple Store in the
General Motors BuildingThe General Motors Building is a 50-story, 705-foot office tower in Manhattan, New York City, facing Fifth Avenue at 59th Street . The building is one of the few structures in Manhattan that occupies a full city block. The building size is 1,905,103 rentable square feet on a plot measuring 200 x...
, at 767 5th Avenue and 59th Street (see the at
Google MapsGoogle Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
), next to the southeast corner of
Central ParkCentral Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year...
. The winter studio is Studio 43 of the
CBS Broadcast CenterThe CBS Broadcast Center is a television and radio production facility located in New York City. It is CBS's main East Coast production center, much as Television City in Los Angeles is the West Coast hub....
,. However, starting in 2005,
The NFL Today was broadcast from Studio 43 all year round. The current studio set for
The NFL Today debuted the following season (2006), the same year this show began broadcasting in
HDHigh-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems...
.
Under Jim Nantz
Greg Gumbel came back from NBC Sports to work as the lead play-by-play announcer for
The NFL on CBS.
Jim NantzJames William Nantz, III is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his work with CBS Sports television.-Early life:...
became the studio host. Incidentally, during the 1993 season, Jim Nantz filled-in for his predecessor, Greg Gumbel while Gumbel was away covering the
American League Championship SeriesThe American League Championship Series was played between the Eastern Division champion Toronto Blue Jays and the Western Division champion Chicago White Sox from October 5 to October 12...
for CBS.
During the
1998 NFL 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...
when the show returned newcomer
Bonnie BernsteinBonnie Bernstein is an American television and radio sportscaster.-Early life and education:Bernstein grew up in Howell, New Jersey. She attended the University of Maryland, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in broadcast journalism, after being a four-time Academic All-America in...
joined the both the show and the network. She only appeared on the show for one season until moving on to the NFL sidelines for the
1999 seasonThe 1999 NFL season was the 80th regular season of the National Football League. The Cleveland Browns returned to the field for the first time since the 1995 season...
. She would eventually returned to the show in
2004The 2004 season of the National Football League was the 85th season for the major professional American football league in the United States. With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005...
and
2005The 2005 season of the National Football League was the 86th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...
.
In the meantime there have been eleven studio analysts on the program. The original lineup consisted of Nantz,
Marcus AllenMarcus LeMarr Allen is a former American football player, and until recently affiliated with CBS as a game analyst. As a professional, Allen ran for 12,243 yards and caught 587 passes for 5,412 yards during his career for both the Los Angeles Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs from 1982 to 1997...
,
Brent JonesBrent Michael Jones is a former American Football tight end who played almost his entire career with the San Francisco 49ers from . He was selected in the 5th round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1986 NFL Draft...
, and
George SeifertGeorge Seifert is a former NFL head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers...
and did not last past that season. In fact, only Nantz returned to the pregame the next season, being joined by former CBS
College Football Today studio analyst Craig James, former CBS and NBC color commentator
Randy CrossRandall "Randy" Laureat Cross is a football analyst and former NFL offensive lineman.-High school years:...
and former Fox analyst
Jerry GlanvilleJerry Glanville is a career American football coach who is currently the head coach for Portland State University. While at Northern Michigan University, Glanville played middle linebacker. In 1964, he graduated from Northern Michigan...
.
During the
2000 NFL SeasonThe 2000 NFL season was the 81st regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XXXV when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants.Week 1 of the season reverted to Labor Day weekend in 2000...
,
Lesley VisserLesley Visser is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history, male or female, who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super...
returned to
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS which airs many of the sports telecasts in the United States.CBS Sports broadcasts programs like NFL on CBS, The NFL Today, Southeastern Conference football, NCAA basketball, PGA golf, and professional tennis....
/The NFL Today after a 6 year hiatus. Visser served as a Feature Reporter on the show. Visser briefly left the show in
2004The 2004 season of the National Football League was the 85th season for the major professional American football league in the United States. With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005...
and
2005The 2005 season of the National Football League was the 86th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...
as she left to work as the lead reporter for top NFL games. She would eventually return to the show in
2006The 2006 season of the National Football League was the 87th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
as she still continues that role today.
The pregame was rebooted again after the 2001 season with
Dan MarinoDaniel Constantine Marino, Jr. is an American Hall of Fame quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
and
Boomer EsiasonNorman Julius "Boomer" Esiason is a former American football quarterback and current network color commentator. He played for the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, and Arizona Cardinals before working as an analyst for ABC and HBO...
joining Nantz, 2000 addition
Mike DitkaMichael Keller Ditka, Jr. , also known as "Iron Mike", is a former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for 3 years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an...
and 2001 addition
Deion SandersDeion Luwynn Sanders is a former National Football League cornerback, Major League Baseball outfielder, and is currently an NFL Network commentator. He carries the nicknames "Prime Time" and "Neon Deion"....
. Sanders left the broadcast team after
Super Bowl XXXVIIISuper Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....
to return to the NFL, playing
2004The 2004 season of the National Football League was the 85th season for the major professional American football league in the United States. 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 Baltimore Ravens. Nantz would follow shortly thereafter, being promoted to lead play-by-play broadcaster.
Under Greg Gumbel (the second time)
With Nantz moving to the lead broadcast team alongside
Phil SimmsPhillip Martin "Phil" Simms is a former American football quarterback, and currently a television sportscaster for the CBS network...
, Gumbel returned to the studio to replace him. To replace the departed Sanders,
Shannon SharpeShannon Sharpe is a former American Football tight end who played for the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. Sharpe is known both for his creative commentary and trash talking. Among tight ends, he was the NFL's all-time yardage leader until Tony Gonzalez...
joined the team and has been there ever since.
During the
2004 NFL SeasonThe 2004 season of the National Football League was the 85th season for the major professional American football league in the United States. With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005...
,
Bonnie BernsteinBonnie Bernstein is an American television and radio sportscaster.-Early life and education:Bernstein grew up in Howell, New Jersey. She attended the University of Maryland, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in broadcast journalism, after being a four-time Academic All-America in...
took over
Lesley VisserLesley Visser is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history, male or female, who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super...
's spot on the show while Visser took over
Armen KeteyianArmen Keteyian is an American television journalist and author. He is currently CBS News' Chief Investigative Correspondent; he also files reports for HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.-Life and career:...
's spot as the lead sideline reporter for the
NFL on CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the American Football Conference, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage:...
teaming up with Nantz and Simms while Keteyian takes over Bernstein's spot on the No. 2 announce team. Those three held their positions for 2 seasons. This was Bernstein's return to The NFL Today after 5 seasons on the sidelines while Visser returned to the sidelines after a brief hiatus of 4 years.
Under James Brown
On February 6, 2006,
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS which airs many of the sports telecasts in the United States.CBS Sports broadcasts programs like NFL on CBS, The NFL Today, Southeastern Conference football, NCAA basketball, PGA golf, and professional tennis....
announced the hiring of James Brown, who moved from studio host of
Fox NFL SundayFord Drive One Fox NFL Sunday is the pregame show for the TV show The 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...
to the host of the
The NFL Today. Greg Gumbel moved back to
play-by-playSports commentary, in broadcasting, is a term that means the reporting of a sporting event with a voiceover describing the details of the game in progress. In North America, in a lot of sports, the sports commentator is assisted by a color commentator, and sometimes a sideline reporter...
, teaming with
Dan DierdorfDaniel Lee "Dan" Dierdorf is a former American football player and current television sportscaster. He played 13 NFL seasons and has worked for ABC's Monday Night Football and CBS as a color commentator since his retirement....
on the second team replacing
Dick EnbergRichard Alan "Dick" Enberg is an American sportscaster currently employed by CBS and ESPN. His duties include National Football League and NCAA basketball telecasts on CBS and coverage of all four Grand Slam professional tennis tournaments for ESPN and ESPN2...
.
During the
2006 NFL SeasonThe 2006 season of the National Football League was the 87th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
,
Lesley VisserLesley Visser is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history, male or female, who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super...
returned to The NFL Today after a 2 year hiatus. Visser once again served as Feature Reporter. She continues to hold that position today.
Bonnie BernsteinBonnie Bernstein is an American television and radio sportscaster.-Early life and education:Bernstein grew up in Howell, New Jersey. She attended the University of Maryland, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in broadcast journalism, after being a four-time Academic All-America in...
left the network to pursue other broadcasting opportunities.
Aside from Visser returning to the show, Sam Ryan joined
CBS SportsCBS Sports is a division of CBS which airs many of the sports telecasts in the United States.CBS Sports broadcasts programs like NFL on CBS, The NFL Today, Southeastern Conference football, NCAA basketball, PGA golf, and professional tennis....
/The NFL Today as she helds that same position as Visser has which is Feature Reporter. Ryan joined the network in June 2006. Ryan still present with both the network and the show.
In 2007 CBS added a fifth member to its studio analyst table by adding recently retired coach
Bill CowherWilliam Laird "Bill" Cowher is a former American football coach and player. Cowher resigned after 15 seasons as the Steelers' coach on January 5, 2007, just 11 months to the day after winning 2005–06's Super Bowl XL...
.
The Super Bowl Today
The Super Bowl Today is a triennial telecast of the
NFL Today broadcast on
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League, the premier association of professional American football. In most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event’s pre-game and...
Sunday, generally from the site of the game. The
2006-07The 2006 season of the National Football League was the 87th season played by the major professional American football league in the United States. Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
telecast was in
Miami, FloridaMiami is a major coastal city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. With an estimated population of 424,662 in 2007, Miami is the largest city within the Miami metropolitan area, which is the...
.
The Super Bowl Today is only broadcast during years when
CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the American Football Conference, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage:...
has rights to televise the Super Bowl.
See also
- The NFL on television
The television rights to broadcast National Football League games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any sport. It was television that brought Professional Football into prominence in the modern era of technology...
- AFC
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . The other is the National Football Conference . This conference, along with the NFC, contains 16 teams...
- NFL on CBS
The NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the American Football Conference, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage:...
- Fox NFL Sunday
Ford Drive One Fox NFL Sunday is the pregame show for the TV show The 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...
- The NFL on NBC Pregame Show
The NBC television network's pregame/studio coverage for their National Football League coverage has had a rather inconsistent history in comparision to The NFL Today on CBS and Fox NFL Sunday on the Fox Broadcasting Company...
- List of programs broadcast by CBS
External links