NFL

Who Called Your NFL Team’s Games the Most in 2013?

We did this research last year, and we thought we would do it again to end the 2013 NFL season.

We examined the network play-by-play pairings for each regular season game in the league this year and noted which announcer called which teams’ games. As in years past patterns emerge, generally the better teams in each conference have their games called by the higher-ranked broadcasters on each network.

The list you are about to see for each team pairs it ONLY with the play-by-play voice calling the game. There are instances where play-by-play men work with different analysts (i.e. Thomm Brennaman filling-in for Joe Buck during the baseball playoffs with Troy Aikman) so instead of listing the results based on broadcast teams, we will link them only with the play-by-play announcer.

Here is each NFL team, along with the announcer who called their games the most, with the number of games in parentheses:

Arizona Cardinals- Dick Stockton & Sam Rosen (3 each)
Atlanta Falcons – Kevin Burkhardt (4)
Baltimore Ravens – Jim Nantz & Greg Gumbel (3 each)
Buffalo Bills – Greg Gumber & Ian Eagle (3 each)
Carolina Panthers- Chris Myers (4)
Chicago Bears- Thomm Brennaman (4)
Cincinnati Bengals- Greg Gumbel & Marv Albert (3 each)
Cleveland Browns- Kevin Harlan (6)
Dallas Cowboys- Al Michaels (4)
Denver Broncos- Jim Nantz (5)
Detroit Lions- Thomm Brennaman (4)
Green Bay Packers- Joe Buck (7)
Houston Texans- Kevin Harlan (4)
Indianapolis Colts- Al Michaels, Greg Gumbel, Kevin Harlan, Ian Eagle, & Bill Macatee (2 each)
Jacksonville Jaguars- Bill Macatee (5)
Kansas City Chiefs- Jim Nantz (3)
Miami Dolphins- Mike Tirico, Jim Nantz, Greg Gumbel, Marv Albert, Ian Eagle, & Chris Myers (2 each)
Minnesota Vikings- Thomm Brennaman (3)
New England Patriots- Jim Nantz & Greg Gumbel (4 each)
New Orleans Saints- Joe Buck (3)
New York Giants- Kenny Albert (4)
New York Jets- Greg Gumbel (5)
Oakland Raiders- Marv Albert (4)
Philadelphia Eagles- Kenny Albert (3)
Pittsburgh Steelers- Al Michaels, Jim Nantz & Ian Eagle (3 each)
San Diego Chargers- Ian Eagle (4)
San Francisco 49ers- Joe Buck (3)
Seattle Seahawks- Chris Myers (5)
St. Louis Rams- Chris Myers (4)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Kevin Burkhardt (4)
Tennessee Titans- Greg Gumbel, Kevin Harlan, Marv Albert, Ian Eagle, Steve Tasker & Andrew Catalon (2 each)
Washington Redskins- Dick Stockton (3)

Now let’s look at each broadcaster and which team he covered the most this season. Brad Nessler of the NFL Network once again wins the award for most diverse announcer, having called games featuring different teams for each of the network’s 13 games. So, in effect, Nessler called one game for 26 teams this year. Here is the rest of the list, sorted by network:

NBC Sports

Al Michaels- Denver Broncos (4)

ESPN

Mike Tirico- Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers & Seattle Seahawks (2 each)
Chris Berman- Houston Texans & San Diego Chargers (1 each)

CBS Sports

Jim Nantz- Denver Broncos (5)
Greg Gumbel- NY Jets (5)
Kevin Harlan- Cleveland Browns (6)
Marv Albert- NY Jets, Cleveland Browns, & Oakland Raiders (4 each)
Ian Eagle- San Diego Chargers (4)
Spero Dedes- Jacksonville Jaguars (3)
Bill Macatee- Jacksonville Jaguars (5)
Andrew Catalon- Tennessee Titans & Jacksonville Jaguars (2 each)

Fox Sports

Joe Buck- Green Bay Packers (7)
Kenny Albert- NY Giants (4)
Dick Stockton- Washington Redskins, Arizona Cardinals & St. Louis Rams (3 each)
Chris Myers- Seattle Seahawks
Kevin Burkhardt- Atlanta Falcons & Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4 each)
Thomm Brennaman- Detroit Lions & Chicago Bears (4 each)
Sam Rosen- Arizona Cardinals (3)
Gus Johnson- Detroit Lions & Minnesota Vikings (1 each)
Justin Kutcher- Tennessee Titans & Arizona Cardinals (1 each)
Tom McCarthy- Cleveland Browns & Detroit Lions (1 each)

Have a Happy New Year!

Sports Media Weekly No. 175- Joe Flint, LA Times & Joe Tessitore, ESPN

The weather is frigid across much of the country so why not cozy up to the latest edition of Sports Media Weekly?

Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites and I are joined for our news segment this week by Joe Flint, media and entertainment reporter for the LA Times.

We dream of warm weather to start the show, talking about the news that ESPN will add Curt Schilling to its Sunday Night Baseball broadcast booth. Schilling replaces Orel Hershiser, who will be joining the broadcast team for the Los Angeles Dodgers new regional sports network which will launch in 2014.

We move to the NFL, discussing the flexing of Bears/Eagles to NBC’s Sunday Night Football for week 16 while Patriots/Ravens moves to CBS at 4:25pm ET. We also speculate as to which game will be flexed to SNF for the week 17 finale.

For the second straight week we talk Canadian sports media as it was announced that CTV and TSN will be the home for NFL football north of the boarder.

We end the news segment looking at the report by John Ourand at Sports Business Journal that Fox appears to be the front runner to retaining the rights to the UEFA Champions League matches here in the United States.

Our second guest this week is ESPN’s Joe Tessitore. Ken speaks with Joe about his upcoming new role as lead studio host for the SEC Network which will launch late next summer.

Week 15 NFL Schedule, with Announcer Assignments

Here is the week 15 NFL schedule, along with the announcers calling each game:

THURSDAY, DEC. 12
GAME	TIME/SCORE	TV	ANNOUNCERS
San Diego at Denver	8:25 pm	NFL Network	Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock
SUNDAY, DEC. 15
GAME	TIME/SCORE	TV	ANNOUNCERS
Washington at Atlanta	1:00 pm	FOX	Sam Rosen, Heath Evans, Molly McGrath
San Francisco at Tampa Bay	1:00 pm	FOX	Dick Stockton, Ronde Barber, Kris Budden
Seattle at N.Y. Giants	1:00 pm	FOX	Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch, Erin Andrews
Philadelphia at Minnesota	1:00 pm	FOX	Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
New England at Miami	1:00 pm	CBS	Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Buffalo at Jacksonville	1:00 pm	CBS	Andrew Catalon, Rich Gannon
Houston at Indianapolis	1:00 pm	CBS	Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcotts
Chicago at Cleveland	1:00 pm	FOX	Thomm Brennaman, Brian Billick, Laura Okmin
Kansas City at Oakland	4:05 pm	CBS	Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
N.Y. Jets at Carolina	4:05 pm	CBS	Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf
Green Bay at Dallas	4:25 pm	FOX	Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver
Arizona at Tennessee	4:25 pm	FOX	Justin Kutcher, Charles Davis, Kristina Pink
New Orleans at St. Louis	4:25 pm	FOX	Chris Myers, Tim Ryan, Jennifer Hale
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh	8:30 pm	NBC	Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
MONDAY, DEC. 16
GAME	TIME/SCORE	TV	ANNOUNCERS
Baltimore at Detroit	8:40 pm	ESPN	Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden

NBC Flexes Bears/Eagles for NFL Week 16

The NFL announced today that the week 16 game between the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles will be flexed onto Sunday Night Football (SNF) on NBC.

The original SNF match-up, the New England Patriots at Baltimore Ravens, will now air Sunday, December 22nd at 4:25pm ET on CBS.

Here is the reconfigured week 16 NFL schedule (All times local):

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22

MIAMI AT BUFFALO	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
NEW ORLEANS AT CAROLINA	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
MINNESOTA AT CINCINNATI	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
DENVER AT HOUSTON	12:00 PM (CT)	CBS
TENNESSEE AT JACKSONVILLE	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
INDIANAPOLIS AT KANSAS CITY	12:00 PM (CT)	CBS
CLEVELAND AT NEW YORK JETS	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
TAMPA BAY AT ST. LOUIS	12:00 PM (CT)	FOX
DALLAS AT WASHINGTON	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
NEW YORK GIANTS AT DETROIT	4:05 PM (ET)	FOX
ARIZONA AT SEATTLE	1:05 PM (PT)	FOX
*NEW ENGLAND AT BALTIMORE	*4:25 PM (ET)*	*CBS*
PITTSBURGH AT GREEN BAY	3:25 PM (CT)	CBS
OAKLAND AT SAN DIEGO	1:25 PM (PT)	CBS
*CHICAGO AT PHILADELPHIA	*8:30 PM (ET)*	*NBC*

MONDAY, DECEMBER 23

ATLANTA AT SAN FRANCISCO

5:40 PM (PT)

ESPN

Few Changes to Week 15 NFL Schedule

NBC has decided not to flex a game into the Sunday Night Football prime time slot for week 15 of the NFL season and will retain its original match-up between the Bengals and Steelers.

The NFL did move the start time of the Saints/Rams and Cardinals/Titans to the late Sunday afternoon slot on Fox.

Here is the revamped week 15 NFL schedule (All times local):

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12 (WEEK 15)

SAN DIEGO AT DENVER

6:25 PM (MT)

NFLN

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15

WASHINGTON AT ATLANTA	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
CHICAGO AT CLEVELAND	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
HOUSTON AT INDIANAPOLIS	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
BUFFALO AT JACKSONVILLE	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
NEW ENGLAND AT MIAMI	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
PHILADELPHIA AT MINNESOTA	12:00 PM (CT)	FOX
SEATTLE AT NEW YORK GIANTS	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
SAN FRANCISCO AT TAMPA BAY	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
NEW YORK JETS AT CAROLINA	4:05 PM (ET)	CBS
KANSAS CITY AT OAKLAND	1:05 PM (PT)	CBS
GREEN BAY AT DALLAS	3:25 PM (CT)	FOX
*NEW ORLEANS AT ST. LOUIS	*3:25 PM (CT)*	*FOX*
*ARIZONA AT TENNESSEE	*3:25 PM (CT)*	*FOX*
CINCINNATI AT PITTSBURGH	8:30 PM (ET)	NBC

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16

BALTIMORE AT DETROIT

8:40 PM (ET)

ESPN

NBC Flexes Panthers/Saints for Week 14

The NFL has announced that the NFC South match-up between the Panthers and Saints during week 14 will be flexed to Sunday Night Football on NBC. The original game between the Falcons and Packers will shift to 1:00pm ET on Fox.

Here is the revamped week 14 NFL schedule (all times are local)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5 (WEEK 14)

HOUSTON AT JACKSONVILLE

8:25 PM (ET)

NFLN

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8

MINNESOTA AT BALTIMORE	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
INDIANAPOLIS AT CINCINNATI	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
CLEVELAND AT NEW ENGLAND	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
OAKLAND AT NEW YORK JETS	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
DETROIT AT PHILADELPHIA	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
MIAMI AT PITTSBURGH	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
BUFFALO AT TAMPA BAY	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
KANSAS CITY AT WASHINGTON	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
*ATLANTA AT GREEN BAY	*12:00 PM (CT)*	*FOX*
TENNESSEE AT DENVER	2:05 PM (MT)	CBS
ST. LOUIS AT ARIZONA	2:25 PM (MT)	FOX
NEW YORK GIANTS AT SAN DIEGO	1:25 PM (PT)	FOX
SEATTLE AT SAN FRANCISCO	1:25 PM (PT)	FOX
*CAROLINA AT NEW ORLEANS	*7:30 PM (CT)*	*NBC*

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9

DALLAS AT CHICAGO

7:40 PM (CT)

ESPN

Sports Media Weekly No. 173- Brian Berger, Sports Business Radio

It’s been an interesting sports media week and we have it covered on Sports Media Weekly.

Joining Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites and me for the program this week is Brian Berger of Sports Business Radio.

We begin the program looking at the appearance late this afternoon of Alex Rodriguez on the Mike Francesa radio program on WFAN in New York. Rodriguez sought the sympathetic ear of Francesa after storming out of his hearing today with an arbitrator over his 211 game suspension issued by Major League Baseball earlier this year. Brian, who also works as a media consultant for athletes, chimes in on whether Rodriguez’ strategy will pay off for him in the court of public opinion.

Over to the the NFL next and Ken’s piece on Awful Announcing on the flex options that await the league’s media partners when the new television contracts take effect next year.

We then move to the news that CBS NFL game analyst Dan Dierdorf will be retiring at the end of the current NFL season after 30 years televising games for CBS and ABC.

College basketball may be seeing quite the change in coverage at the NCAA Final Four beginning next year as Turner Sports takes over televising the national semi-final games. John Ourand at Sports Business Journal has the details.

We wrap the news segment by looking at the news by NBC that Bob Costas will be adding late night hosting duties to his primetime gig at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Week 11 NFL Schedule, with Announcer Asignments

Here is the week 11 schedule in the NFL, along with the announcers calling each game:

THURSDAY, NOV. 14
GAME	TIME/SCORE	TV	ANNOUNCERS
Indianapolis at Tennessee	8:25 pm	NFL Network	Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock
SUNDAY, NOV. 17
GAME	TIME/SCORE	TV	ANNOUNCERS
N.Y. Jets at Buffalo	1:00 pm	CBS	Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
Atlanta at Tampa Bay	1:00 pm	FOX	Sam Rosen, Heath Evans, Peter Schrager
Detroit at Pittsburgh	1:00 pm	FOX	Thomm Brennaman, Brian Billick, Laura Okmin
Washington at Philadelphia	1:00 pm	FOX	Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch, Erin Andrews
Arizona at Jacksonville	1:00 pm	FOX	Dick Stockton, Ronde Barber, Kris Budden
Oakland at Houston	1:00 pm	CBS	Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcotts
Baltimore at Chicago	1:00 pm	CBS	Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Cleveland at Cincinnati	1:00 pm	CBS	Marv Albert, Rich Gannon
San Diego at Miami	4:05 pm	CBS	Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf
Green Bay at N.Y. Giants	4:25 pm	FOX	Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
Minnesota at Seattle	4:25 pm	FOX	Chris Myers, Tim Ryan, Jennifer Hale
San Francisco at New Orleans	4:25 pm	FOX	Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver
Kansas City at Denver	8:30 pm	NBC	Al Michaels, Cris Collinworth
MONDAY, NOV. 18
GAME	TIME/SCORE	TV	ANNOUNCERS
New England at Carolina	8:40 pm	ESPN	Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden
Bye week: Dallas, St. Louis

NBC Flexes Week 11 Match-Up to Chiefs/Broncos

Looking at how the 2013 NFL season has started and how NBC can flex their Sunday Night Football games beginning with week 11, it was just about a foregone conclusion that NBC would flex out of its scheduled game of Green Bay at the NEw York Giants and replace it with an AFC West showdown between the Chiefs and Broncos.

That’s exactly what happened as the NFL announced today that the Chiefs and Broncos will now air on Sunday night, November 17th. Packers/Giants will move to a 4:25p.m. ET kick-off on Fox and San Diego at Miami will move from a 1:00p.m. to a 4:05p.m. ET start on CBS.

Here is the re-vamped week 11 NFL schedule:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 (WEEK 11)

(Byes: Dallas, St. Louis)

INDIANAPOLIS AT TENNESSEE

7:25 PM (CT)

NFLN

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17

NEW YORK JETS AT BUFFALO	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
BALTIMORE AT CHICAGO	12:00 PM (CT)	CBS
CLEVELAND AT CINCINNATI	1:00 PM (ET)	CBS
OAKLAND AT HOUSTON	12:00 PM (CT)	CBS
ARIZONA AT JACKSONVILLE	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
WASHINGTON AT PHILADELPHIA	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
DETROIT AT PITTSBURGH	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
ATLANTA AT TAMPA BAY	1:00 PM (ET)	FOX
*SAN DIEGO AT MIAMI	*4:05 PM (ET)*	*CBS*
*GREEN BAY AT NEW YORK GIANTS	*4:25 PM (ET)*	*FOX*
SAN FRANCISCO AT NEW ORLEANS	3:25 PM (CT)	FOX
MINNESOTA AT SEATTLE	1:25 PM (PT)	FOX
*KANSAS CITY AT DENVER	*6:30 PM (MT)*	*NBC*

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18

NEW ENGLAND AT CAROLINA

8:40 PM (ET)

ESPN

Broncos/Colts Give NBC Highest-Rated SNF of the Season Thus Far

NBC Sports reported today that last night’s Sunday Night Football (SNF) telecast between the Broncos and Colts registered an overnight rating of 17.3, making it the highest-rated SNF game of the season and the highest rated prime time October NFL telecast in 15 years.

Here’s more from NBC PR:

The previous best October primetime NFL overnight was a 17.5 for Minnesota-Green Bay on ABC on Oct. 5, 1998, as the Vikings beat the Packers 34-27.

The 17.3 for the Colts’ down-to-the-wire 39-33 Sunday Night Football victory is the fourth-highest overnight in the eight-year history of NBC’s primetime package (including “NFL Kickoff” games). Following are NBC’s highest overnight ratings for a regular-season game since the debut of Sunday Night Football in 2006:

Game, Date Overnight Highlights

Dallas-Wash., 12/30/12 18.3 Rookie Robert Griffin III leads Redskins to NFC East title with 28-18 victory in “win-and-in” Week 17 matchup. Game posted highest regular-season primetime overnight on any network in 15 years.

Pittsburgh-Denver, 9/9/12 18.0 Peyton Manning debuts with a new team (Denver) after missing ’11 season with neck injury, and throws his 400th career TD pass in Broncos’ come-from-behind 31-19 victory.

Minn.-New Orleans, 9/9/10 17.7 Drew Brees leads defending-champion Saints over Brett Favre and Vikings 14-9 in NFC Championship Game rematch in Thursday “NFL Kickoff” opener.

Denver-Indy, 10/20/13 17.3 QB Andrew Luck accounts for 4 TDs to lead Colts to a 39-33 win over Broncos in Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis.

N.O.-Green Bay, 9/8/11 17.2 Aaron Rodgers passes for 312 yards and three scores to lead defending-champion Packers to 42-34 win over Drew Brees (419 yards and 3 TDs) and Saints in Thursday “NFL Kickoff” opener.

NBC’s Sunday primetime average (13.5/22 from 7-11 p.m. ET in metered-market households) is the highest for any broadcast network on a Sunday night since the Academy Awards on Feb. 24 (22.2/34 on ABC) and topped second-place CBS by 50% (9.0/14).