Erin Andrews recently covered her fourth Super Bowl championship with FOX Sports as a sideline reporter, and one of the responsibilities in this role is to interview players before and after the game. Andrews, who was part of the lead broadcast team with play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, analyst Tom Brady and sideline reporter Tom Rinaldi, followed the Chiefs throughout the week and brought viewers developments and perspectives from the team as they attempted to win a third consecutive championship. Reflecting on the venture during a recent edition of the Calm Down podcast alongside FOX Sports colleague Charissa Thompson, she replied to a listener’s question querying the most important thing about doing a pregame interview with a player.
Going into the assignment, Andrews knew that she would only have a minute to speak with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes before kickoff. Heading into the conversation, she wanted to try and ask him three questions, surmising this as a tangible possibility because of the fact that Mahomes gets to the point and is not long winded in his answers. Thompson, who is a studio host and former sideline reporter, was surprised to hear this and remarked that she would have tried to aim for two questions in that situation.
“My first one was, ‘You had to address the three-peat,’” Andrews said. “Well, no. It was cool as s**t, right? You get him right out of the tunnel, which is awesome, and he’s a pro at this and he’s done it how many times, and here with history on the line, he’s running out of that tunnel. ‘What did that moment feel like?,’ I think I asked.”
Andrews remembered that Mahomes had explained how the Chiefs’ offense needed to do a better job getting going in the Super Bowl, and she asked how they would be able to do that. Before the interview took place, she had sought out advice about the question and questioned Brady about what he would want to be asked in that situation. In addition, she spoke with Burkhardt about how the context could bolster the overall game presentation and commentary in the broadcast booth.
“He said, “I love you asking, ‘Hey, he told us the offense has got to get going early. How do you do that?,’’ because Kevin said, ‘Tom and I can take that nugget and weave it in. ‘Alright, you just heard Patrick Mahomes say this. Let’s see what they do on this first drive.’ Then, if they don’t do anything second drive, it’s like, ‘Remember, Patrick Mahomes told Erin,’’” Andrews explained, “so man, that jacks me up. I love s***t like this.”
Thompson averred that Burkhardt is “the most generous announcer in the world” and that he does not take things away from others. Referencing that Andrews was responsible for obtaining certain information, he has found a way to bring things back amid the storytelling process while also reacting to developments that occur in real time. Leading up to a game broadcast though, there is a surfeit of information that the team gathers that does not end up making the final product wherefore effectively weaving things together is important.
“It is different to have so much of my interviews are always postgame or sit-down interviews, so it’s not that right before the game moment where the player’s thinking about the game and he’s like, ‘Oh s**t, yeah, that’s right. I need to do the couple questions interview,’ so your ability to bring them in and be in that moment is very impressive because it’s like their focus is not going to always be on the interview,” Thompson said. “It’s like, ‘We’re playing a game – oh, and the interview,’ so kudos.”
Andrews remembered how the Chiefs took the field before the Eagles ahead of Super Bowl LIX last month and how she needed to wait for both teams to be introduced before interviewing Mahomes. Yet Mahomes was on the other side of the field warming up, and she remembered her producer asking where he was. As a result, she and the crew ran down the field in order to find Mahomes and safeguard from missing the interview with the quarterback aiming to secure a third consecutive league championship. Thompson further elaborated by talking about how Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley gave a reaction virtually in real time on the postgame show.
“We were, this year obviously, just coming on air for our postgame show, and he’s walking up with the trophy, and so you get his reaction as opposed to sitting at the desk, chatting with the guys, waiting and then having to be like, ‘Okay, we’re on in three minutes,’” Thompson said. “It’s like, ‘Three minutes after like a natural reaction is like way too much time,’ so in a perfect world if you can get it right after, it’s awesome.”
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