Richard Deitsch of The Athletic spoke with Fox Sports’ Eric Shanks and CBS’s Sean McManus as part of his “Media Circus” column this week. The two network heads talked about how Jim Nantz came to appear on Fox’s telecast of the US Open on Saturday.
Plans started coming together after Joe Buck, the lead broadcaster on Fox’s US Open coverage, publicly invited Nantz to come join the broadcast. According to Deitsch, that is when Shanks picked up the phone to call McManus and explain how he saw the cameo unfolding.
“I thought Jim has such a close association with the sport of golf and Pebble Beach that it would be a good showcase for him and for CBS too,” McManus told Deitsch. “There was no reason not to do it.”
Jim Nantz appeared early on the Saturday broadcast, much to the delight of golf fans everywhere. McManus stopped short of saying that CBS would be quick to welcome Buck on future golf broadcasts, but did explain that CBS would be open to a future Buck cameo if similar, undeniably perfect circumstances presented themselves.
“Remember this was kind of unique set of circumstances with the U.S. Open being played in the hometown of Jim Nantz, and I think he was on the telecast as much as a resident of Pebble Beach as he was the voice of golf on CBS. So if we were in St. Louis let’s say, and it made sense to have Joe Buck on, we would definitely consider it.”
