Fox seemingly has a problem. It was talked about throughout the playoffs. Tom Brady is really coming aboard next season to join Kevin Burkhardt in FOX’s top NFL booth, which will unseat Greg Olsen, widely considered the best game analyst on TV.
There have been plenty of theories about what to do. Everyone has a thought about which network should cut ties with its top NFL analyst to make room for Olsen. The most obvious answer though is that Olsen gets bumped down a peg to FOX’s number two booth. Currently, that’s Joe Davis and Moose Johnston. What other changes would that necessitate?
Maybe Amazon moves on from Kirk Herbstreit. Maybe Cris Collinsworth decides to retire, opening up a spot on NBC. Those are the best case scenarios for Olsen, but my guess is FOX does not want to lose him to a competitor. In 2022, I wrote that FOX may not realize what it has in Olsen. I received an email the next day from a FOX executive that said he definitely knows what the network has and thinks Olsen deserves to be in the spotlight in his booth, not playing second fiddle to Tom Brady.
So with that in mind, I have a suggestion. FOX can keep Olsen and Olsen can stay the network’s top analyst. All that has to happen is the network has to move Greg Olsen from its NFL coverage to its college football coverage. It’s a radical idea, but I think it’s a good one.
Don’t get me wrong. There is no reason FOX has to think about replacing Joel Klatt. He also regularly receives high praise for his work. But if the network sees Olsen as a higher priority, this is a chance to keep him in the fold without diminishing his role.
Greg Olsen’s future at FOX probably does not include another Super Bowl. It sucks. I thought he did a great job with Super Bowl LVII. But if the reality is he won’t get to do that again, wouldn’t you rather still be on a top broadcast each week? The College Football Playoff Committee has denied earlier reports that a deal on a new TV contract with ESPN is done. We know FOX really wants a piece of the event. If you’re Greg Olsen and you are open to moving to Big Noon Saturday, there is still a chance that comes along with the chance to call the National Championship Game in the future.
Right now, FOX Sports boss Eric Shanks has to solve the Olsen problem. He can cross the Klatt bridge if it gets to that point, but there are options. Even if his playing days didn’t have the star power of the rest of the Big Noon Kickoff cast, he has established himself as an elite analytical mind. He could move into a featured role on the pregame show.
Olsen would bring not just star power, but authority. He was a standout tight end for The University of Miami in the early 2000s. It’s undeniably a marquee brand. He was an all-conference performer. He experienced the beginnings of realignment first hand. As a member of the notorious 7th Floor Crew, his college career even has that little bit of infamy and controversy that FOX loves.
Pairing him with Gus Johnson could be a home run. The energy would be the complete opposite of ESPN, CBS and NBC. Imagine Johnson and Olsen going off the air and then flipping over to whatever game Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson are covering. It would sound like a funeral by comparison.
College football is not the NFL. I get that. But if the last handful of years have proven anything in the sports broadcasting business, it’s that star power matters most of all. Olsen may have proven himself more than capable, but he just can’t compete with Tom Brady in the area that has the most influence on who gets the top job.
Plenty of football fans and media members view college football as a step down from the NFL. I get why, the NFL dwarfs everything else on television. But the college football audience is still trending upward. Nowhere has that been more evident in recent years than at FOX.
FOX doesn’t want to lose Olsen, and I don’t think it will. He may have an opt out clause but I am not sure a job that is worthy of exercising it will be available to him.
So if you’re in charge of FOX and you have an asset like Olsen, you have to ask yourself what the best way to use him is. If Brady is there, there is a ceiling on how high Olsen can go, so do you stick him at the number 2 spot and risk losing him every season, or do you try to sell him on being the number one guy in a new booth – one that already has shown its growth potential?
Maybe there is no obvious answer, but if FOX wants to pitch Olsen on making the move to college football, it can play to his ego and competitive instincts. That should make it an easy sell.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
