The biggest current story in sports media is Troy Aikman’s reported move to ESPN. After the news broke Wednesday night, virtually every sports radio show in the country at least touched on Aikman leaving Fox for Monday Night Football.
That led to conversations on Aikman’s merits as a broadcaster, who the best NFL broadcast crews are, whether or not viewers really tune in for the announcers, and the massive salary that Aikman will reportedly receive.
But 670 the Score’s Parkins and Spiegel talked to someone who actually calls NFL games for Fox on their show Thursday. Adam Amin was on one of the network’s top broadcast teams with analyst Mark Schlereth and reporter Shannon Spake. (Of course, he’s also the Chicago Bulls TV play-by-play broadcaster, which is the main reason Parkins and Spiegel had him on.)
Having worked with some of the names being mentioned as possible replacements for Aikman, Amin praised Greg Olsen, who many believe will take over the No. 1 game analyst position, but also had some thoughts to share on the coaches that are reportedly being pursued as broadcasters.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Sean Payton and I don’t think he likes holding back when it comes to matters of the league,” said Amin. “So I think that would be an interesting person to be in the booth.”
Amin clarified that he has no inside knowledge of what Fox executives and producers might be thinking, saying that he’s in a lower tier that won’t be affected by the “big shot stuff.”
“I was curious about the Sean McVay rumors because, again, I’ve had a lot of conversations with Sean McVay and I think he’d be very insightful” he added.
“I think he’d be interesting, especially as a younger person with a different perspective on how organizations, how coaches treat analytics, how they treat 4th-and-1 situations based on yard line and score… We don’t get a lot of coaches in the booth anymore.”
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
