NFL Week #6: Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN and NFLN: Announcers, notes and regional coverage spelled out
Buck and Aikman work Thursday night only; NFL Network's Rich Eisen does play-by-play for Sunday's game in London
By David J. Halberstam and Jake Baskin 10/09/2019
- CBS has the twin-bill and Fox is single this Sunday.
- London will need a conference room to accommodate four men. A booth might not be big enough. NFL Network’s airs Sunday’s Carolina-Tampa Bay contest. Rich Eisen, a studio man by training, calls the play-by-play. Kurt Warner, Michael Irvin and Steve Mariucci will be analysts. Melissa Stark reports from the sidelines. In addition to focusing on calling the game, Eisen will have to do constant mental bookkeeping to give the other three guys time to opine. And the other three, from what I’ve seen, are rather garrulous. Warner also works with Kevin Harlan on radio’s Monday Night Football.
- Travel challenge of the weekend is being faced by one of the best football broadcasters in the land, the beloved Gene Deckerhoff. He’s an institution in the Sunshine State. Gene has been been doing both Florida State and Tampa Bay Bucs for years. Saturday, the Seminoles are at Clemson and Sunday, the Bucs are in London. Gene told me he plans to swim across the pond.
- Kenny Albert elevated to Kevin Burkhardt’s position this weekend. He’ll work with Charles Davis on Philadelphia at Minnesota. The cheerful Burkhardt is a baseballer for the Foxies through the post season.
- Greg Gumbel, 73, was born in New Orleans and he’ll have Saints at Jacksonville this weekend.
- Sam Rosen works again this weekend in Miami. He was praised last week for his call of Giants-Vikings game.
- Ian Eagle, they call him Bird, is no relation to the Bird Man of Alcatraz. Bird and ex-QB, Dan Fouts, get the big early game for CBS. Houston at Kansas City goes to 72% of America
Jake Baskin has a profile of CBSer Andrew Catalon. It’s below the schedule. Catalon is on the docket to work every week.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
New York Giants at New England Patriots (Thu) 8:20p FOX/NFLN/Amazon*
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman on Fox/NFLN
Hannah Storm, Andrea Kremer on Amazon +
100% of the country – NFL Network reaches 63 million homes; Amazon Prime has almost 100 million subscribers
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (London) 2:30p (BST) 9:30a NFLN
Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Michael Irvin and Steve Mariucci
100% of the country – NFL Network reaches 63 million homes
Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens 1:00p CBS
Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon
12% of America, Mid-Atlantic through Ohio and into Fort Wayne, Indiana
Seattle Seahawks at Cleveland Browns 1:00p FOX
Chris Myers, Darryl Johnston
22% of U.S. with strong presence in Pacific Northwest, the Mountain zone, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Tennessee
New Orleans Saints at Jacksonville Jaguars 1:00p CBS
Greg Gumbel, Trent Green
15% of the country, Essentially 7 Southeast states, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia and Mississippi
Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs 1:00p CBS
Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
72% of America. This ballgame is being featured just about everywhere except the south, southeast and the Mid-Atlantic through Ohio.
Washington Redskins at Miami Dolphins 1:00p FOX
Sam Rosen, Ronde Barber
Just 6% of the land, some 8 markets, essentially DC and a handful of Virginia markets plus Miami and West Palm Beach.
Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings 1:00p FOX
Kenny Albert, Charles Davis
42% of America gets this one including NYC, much of Pennsylvania and the rest of NYS, the Upper Midwest and much of Texas
Atlanta Falcons at Arizona Cardinals 4:05p FOX
Thom Brennaman, Chris Spielman
6% of country, some 12 markets, basically Georgia and the 3 Arizona markets, of Yuma, Phoenix and Tucson
San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams 4:05p FOX
Dick Stockton, Mark Schlereth
Roughly 23% of America. All 11 markets in the Golden State plus about 20 scattered markets, including Houston, St. Louis, Kansas City, New Orleans and Jacksonville.
Tennessee Titans at Denver Broncos 4:25p CBS
Andrew, Catalon, James Lofton
25 markets about 7% of the U.S., the Mountain Zone, Tennessee and the good folks in Medford, Oregon
Dallas Cowboys at New York Jets 4:25p CBS
Jim Nantz, Tony Romo
91% get the dulcet toned Nantz and ex Cowboys QB. America sees this, other than the 25 markets which will be fed Denver and Tennessee
Pittsburgh Steelers at Los Angeles Chargers 8:20p NBC
Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
100% Nationally
Monday, October 14, 2019
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers 8:15p ESPN
Joe Tessitore, Booger McFarland
100% of our great land – ESPN is in some 84 million homes
Profile of Andrew Catalon
by Jake Baskin
Andrew Catalon is on the call for Sunday’s late afternoon matchup between the Titans and Broncos alongside his usual partner, Pro Football Hall of Famer, James Lofton. Looking toward its future, CBS is likely counting on Catalon, Spero Dedes and Carter Blackburn. Greg Gumbel is 73.
Catalon, 40, spent the early portion of his career as a sports anchor and reporter, primarily in Albany, New York. The Syracuse grad got his first professional play-by-play work covering curling, and within five years would become the leading curling voice in America, calling the action for NBC at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics. He decided he enjoyed play-by-play, and would pick up some freelance gigs calling college basketball, golf, tennis, and even European handball before CBS picked him up full-time in 2013.
Andrew works on CBS’s golf coverage as well, but is best known for football and college basketball. He called his first NCAA Tournament game in 2014 and has been a regular announcer on the network’s package ever since. Catalon worked his first NFL game in 2011 when he was still a sports anchor in Albany, a Bills-Bengals game that ended on a last-second field goal. He has had a regular ongoing NFL schedule since 2014, first on the #6 team with Steve Tasker and Steve Beuerlein, and for the last three seasons has been on the #5 team with Lofton.
Great job by both of you, and Gene Deckerhoff wins the Lindsey Nelson Memorial Award for Frequent Flying to do football. For four years, Lindsey did Notre Dame Saturday, CBS Sunday, and Mutual Monday night.