FOX NFL play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt knows games like the Super Bowl are not just another game. Whether it’s the NFC Championship game or the World Series, Burkhardt recognizes the magnitude of the event, but his approach to working those broadcasts doesn’t change.
Burkhardt was the guest on Jay Glazer’s podcast Unbreakable, and Glazer asked what the announcer’s attack for a game like the NFC title game on Sunday.
Kevin fell back on his decades of experience in the business, especially the last 10 or so working as the number two NFL play-by-play voice at the network behind Joe Buck before he and Troy Aikman left for ESPN. He’s become the new number-one NFL voice for FOX with Greg Olsen since then.
“I had done a decade of football at FOX so the games weren’t new to me,” Burkhardt said. “I’ve done the World Series and hosted that and handed away the trophy in the World Series, which is about as nerve-wracking as it gets.”
When talking about calling the Super Bowl last year for the first time, Kevin said the stretch of time leading to his arrival in Phoenix drove up his nerves.
“I gotta tell you, doing that for the first time, it was the week leading up that had me anxious,” he said. “It wasn’t the game. As crazy as that sounds, I know 115 million people watched it. But it was just getting to the game. It was the anxiety of like staying healthy, not getting sick, making sure you’re taking care of all your prep. Doing X, Y, and Z and all the other stuff that comes along with Super Bowl week as you’ve done a million times.”
“It was all of that, and I felt like, of course, there’s pressure,” Burkhardt continued. “You go into that, you know if you handle it, you feel great about yourself, you’re in a good spot. And if you don’t, it could kill your career. It’s a lot of pressure. So I will say the Sunday when I woke up the day of the game, I felt so good. My mind was clear, and it just felt like, ‘OK, I’ve done a million of these games. There’s just more people watching this one.’ At that point, it did feel like another game to me.”
Kevin said it’s a balancing act you have to do. You know it’s a huge game or a huge moment, but at the same time the stage doesn’t change how you handle your business.
“I would say everything else leading up to it, if you say it’s another game, I agree it’s horseshit. It’s not,” he said. “But if you approach it different, like if your prep is different, and if you think about it differently and you psych yourself up in a different way, I think you fail. I take the same approach – and this I mean – I take the same approach and the same excitement level for our preseason game as I did for the big playoff games. Cause I don’t know any other way. I can’t cheat on the test. I can’t skimp on prep. I’m just not wired that way. So that’s what helps me.”
Glazer asked what Burkhardt does to combat nervousness prior to a big broadcast, and Kevin said he just tries to live in the moment and trust all the prep and work he’s put in prior to getting behind the microphone.
“If you can’t enjoy this, then what are we even doing?” he asked. “And that doesn’t mean that you’re not stressed, that you’re not nervous, that you don’t get exhausted. Like that’s normal stuff. Just because we love what we do and we have an amazing job doesn’t mean all of that doesn’t come into play, cause it does.”
“But I mean reality, like going back to the Super Bowl stuff, I said to myself, if I’m not going to enjoy this, why have I done this for the last 30 years of my life?” Burkhardt added. “This is everything you dream of as a kid. Have fun with it and let the chips fall where they may. I’m a firm believer in that. Here’s the deal. Go out swinging, be yourself, and then where things go, they go. That’s the only thing you can control. I can’t control if certain things happen and if people like it or they don’t. But I feel good about myself if I’m gonna enter it and be me and do it my way.”
