Noah Eagle, who will serve as the play-by-play voice for Nickelodeon’s alternate broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII, was the guest on this week’s Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast. Nickelodeon has done coverage of previous games, including wild-card games in 2020 and 2021, but this will be the first time it is covering a Super Bowl.
Deitsch asked Eagle about his biggest challenges as he preps for the game. “Finding the right balance of actually preparing as if I was calling the game and then preparing for all of the other stuff that comes with a Nickelodeon, or really any alternate broadcast,” Eagle said. “Any time you do any sort of alternate broadcast, and I’ve been fortunate to get a chance to do a couple of them now, it’s finding what the target audience is looking for.
“When you remember that the target audience here is younger kids who have maybe never watched football before, or really have only watched the Nickelodoen broadcasts the last couple of years as their introduction to the sport. You remember that those nitty gritty details aren’t quite as important. The preparation completely changes, I am not looking for stats as much, I am looking more for storyline stuff, I am looking more for fun background.”
Eagle said that while the broadcasters do not meet with the coaches, they do meet with some players. Rather than talking x’s and o’s with them, Eagle and broadcast partner Nate Burleson ask about their childhoods, their interests outside of football or what they watched as kids. “That stuff really resonates with the kids.,” Eagle said.
Eagle shared the story of interviewing for the position with Nickelodeon, which he did over zoom during COVID. He was asked if he watched Nickelodeon as a kid and Eagle said he began quoting characters and doing impressions. He did say, however, that since Nickelodeon is over 40 years old, he did catch up on new Nickelodeon programming and went back to the archives, as part of his preparation.
As for how he likes doing the alternate games, he said, “It’s been good, its been different, its a nice change of pace. I would say it would be difficult to do all the time as a broadcaster because it’s not what you’re trained to do, but it’s definitely a fun change up.”
Eagle said he believes these alternate broadcasts are currently in the plans for the future. “I do think the NFL is really excited about it and they have been from the start. They have been a great partner in all of this. I know Roger Goodell was talking a lot about the media landscape and where it’s going in the future…during his media availability…I think this does fall in to that, alternate broadcating…I know that they’re thinking about this stuff and I think we have a chance to go out and try to knock it out of the park and try to prove this deserves to be somethng that can stay long-term.”
Back in August when the NFL and Nickelodeon made the announcement about covering the game, Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution said, “We’re thrilled to partner with CBS Sports and Nickelodeon to present the first alternate telecast of the Super Bowl. Our previous telecasts on Nickelodeon have been huge hits and created a new and different way to experience an NFL game. We’re excited to bring that creativity to Super Bowl LVIII and give our fans another way to enjoy one of the world’s most popular sporting events.”
