Unusual Fox announcer assignment for NFL playoffs (not seen since 1980)

The network which has the late Sunday afternoon window on NFL Divisional Playoff weekend almost always sends its #1 announcer crew to that game. This time slot traditionally obtains the highest ratings of any NFL playoff weekend and networks typically assign their top broadcast team to the game expected to draw the best TV rating.

However, this weekend, Fox has the late Sunday slot (Eagles-Saints), but is not using its #1 team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on that game. Instead, Fox is sending its #2 announcer team of Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis to New Orleans. Fox is using Buck and Aikman on the Saturday prime time Cowboys-Rams game despite the fact that Eagles-Saints will almost certainly garner a much higher rating due to its favorable time slot.

The last time a network which had the late Sunday afternoon window chose to send its top announcers to a different divisional playoff game was during the 1980 playoffs when CBS sent its #1 team of Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier to call the early Saturday Vikings-Eagles game and assigned the #2 crew of Vin Scully and George Allen to the late Sunday Cowboys-Falcons matchup.

So the Fox announcer assignments for this weekend represent a situation that hasn't happened in 38 years - and has only occurred three previous times since the 1970 merger.

Here is a summary of the rare cases where a network which had the late Sunday divisional playoff window sent its #1 announcer crew to a different game (all years refer to the NFL season, even when the playoff games were played in January):

2018 - Fox - described above

1980 - CBS - described above

1978 - CBS - #1 team of Summerall and Brookshier called Falcons-Cowboys (late Saturday)
                         #2 team of Scully, Allen, and Jim Brown called Vikings-Rams (late Sunday)

1972 - NBC - #1 team of Curt Gowdy and Al Derogatis called Raiders-Steelers "immaculate reception" (early Saturday)
                          #2 team of Jim Simpson and Kyle Rote called Browns-Dolphins (late Sunday)

Rare case - Network #1 announcer team calling early game of NFL doubleheader

During the NFL regular season, Fox and CBS share the Sunday afternoon TV rights. Each week, one network gets doubleheader rights and can show both an early and late afternoon game in most markets. The other network gets rights to show just a single game to each market. Typically, the network with the doubleheader features its most attractive game in the late afternoon (4:25 pm ET) time slot and usually assigns its top announcer team to that game.

Because Christmas Day is on Sunday this year, the NFL moved the bulk of its schedule to Saturday for week 16. This weekend, Fox has the NFL doubleheader TV rights, but is sending its #1 team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to call Vikings-Packers at 1pm ET instead of a 4:25 game. How rare is such an assignment? This is only the fourth time since 2004 that a network sent its top announcer crew to an early afternoon game on a day when that network owned the doubleheader rights.

Here are the only such instances in the past 12 seasons where the top team on the doubleheader network called a game in the early window:

• 2013 week 17 - CBS placed Jim Nantz and Phil Simms on Ravens-Bengals in the early window. Note: Since 2006, the NFL has allowed both CBS and Fox to televise a doubleheader on the final Sunday of the regular season. So the week 17 late doubleheader window is not exclusive to one network like it is for a typical NFL Sunday. 

• 2011 week 17 - Fox assigned Buck and Aikman to Panthers-Saints at 1:00.

• 2008 week 12 - Fox sent Buck and Aikman to call 49ers-Cowboys in the early slot despite having rights to the late doubleheader slot (then at 4:15). 

So the 2008 instance is the actually the only time since 2004 that a network holding exclusive doubleheader rights put its top team on an early game. For comparison, I found 23 cases of this between 1994 and 2004, so the relative rarity in recent years helps illustrate how important the late afternoon doubleheader window has become to the TV networks.

Another interesting aspect about the upcoming weekend is that CBS is sending its #1 team of Nantz/Simms to call a late afternoon game (Colts-Raiders) despite the fact that CBS has the singleheader. The 4:05 games tend to get limited regional distribution as they are aired against the featured 4:25 contest, so generally, the top crew gets assigned to an early game on a singleheader weekend.

But how unusual is this combination? Only twice since the 1998 season has the DH network assigned its top team to an early game while the singleheader network put its #1 crew on a late game that same day.

• 2004 week 14 - Fox had the doubleheader but sent Buck and Aikman to call Seahawks-Vikings while CBS placed Nantz and Simms on a late singleheader game (Jets-Steelers)

• 2002 week 11 - On this CBS doubleheader day, the #1 team of Greg Gumbel and Simms handled Bills-Chiefs early while Fox assigned its top team of Buck, Aikman, and Cris Collinsworth to call 49ers-Chargers in the late singleheader window.

For completeness, I found four other cases of this odd combination between 1994 and 1998.

History of #1 play-by-play announcer demotions

How often does a TV network demote its number one play-by-play announcer?

It seems inconceivable that either Joe Buck (lead play-by-play voice for Fox on baseball since 1996 and the NFL since 2002) or Jim Nantz (lead announcer on CBS for college basketball since 1991 and the NFL since 2004) will be relegated to a lower role any time soon - if ever. But it did happen to the likes of Pat Summerall and Brent Musburger against their wishes.

A few years ago, I looked at cases where a network demoted its #1 analyst. I decided to do the same thing for play-by-play announcers. Specifically, I looked at situations where CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox covered a sport using multiple announcer teams and focused on the NFL, NBA, MLB, college basketball and college football.

As before, I am defining demotion as a case where the former "A" team play-by-play announcer returns to the same network the following season on a lower tier broadcast crew.

It is quite rare for a network to demote its #1 play-by-play announcer by the above definition. Most of the time a lead announcer retires or switches networks rather than receiving or accepting a demotion. And many cases which might appear to be "demotions" actually involved special circumstances.

Here is a look at such demotions ordered by longest tenure:


Brent Musburger (15 years as lead ABC announcer on college football)

Musburger was the lead college football play-by-play voice on ABC from 1999-2013 (was essentially co-#1 from 1999-2005). In 2014, Brent was demoted from the ESPN on ABC Saturday prime time slot in favor of Chris Fowler. Musburger shifted to the #1 role on the ESPN-owned SEC Network, but he also called a bowl game on ABC (and both a regular season game and bowl game on ESPN) that season.


Chris Schenkel (8 years as lead ABC announcer on college football)

Schenkel worked the featured games on the ABC NCAA package from 1966-1973. He was demoted in 1974 for Keith Jackson. While Schenkel moved into the studio host rule, he called play-by-play on some lower tier ABC games that season. Schenkel remained on ABC handling a slate of secondary games each season through 1978.

Pat Summerall (8 years as lead Fox announcer on the NFL)

Summerall was the top NFL announcer on Fox from 1994-2001. He was demoted in 2002 for Joe Buck. Pat remained with Fox in 2002 calling lower tier regional games. He also called a handful of games in 2004, 2006, and 2007. Of course, Summerall had previously been the #1 NFL play-by-play man on CBS since midway through 1974, so if you count those years, his demotion came after 27.5 seasons in the #1 role across the two networks.

Curt Gowdy (7 years as lead NBC announcer on the NCAA Tournament)

Gowdy was the #1 announcer on the NBC coverage of the NCAA Tournament from 1969-1975 calling all of the Final Four games. In 1976, he was partially demoted to co-#1 status for the tournament when he and Dick Enberg began to split Final Four duties. NBC used them together in the booth for the 1976 and 1977 NCAA title games, but put Gowdy in the play-by-play role both years. Curt was fully demoted in 1978 when he was relegated to a host role on the championship game while Enberg received the play-by-play assignment. Gowdy moved to CBS in 1979 and never called college basketball again.

Brent Musburger (4 years as lead CBS announcer on college football)

Musburger appears again on this list. After serving as the lead play-by-play voice on CBS from 1985-1988, Brent was demoted in 1989 for Jim Nantz. Musburger remained on CBS and called some "B" team games that season before moving to ABC.

Gary Bender (3 years as lead CBS announcer on college basketball)

CBS installed Bender as the #1 play-by-play voice on its NCAA basketball package from 1981-82 through 1983-84. The network demoted him in 1984-85 in favor of Brent Musburger. Bender remained on CBS in a secondary role for 3 seasons before he moved to ABC.


Gary Bender (3 years as lead CBS announcer on college football)

Bender also served as the #1 announcer on CBS NCAA football from 1982 to 1984 (was essentially co-#1 with Lindsey Nelson in 1982). He was demoted in 1985 - again for Musburger. Bender called play-by-play on the CBS "B" team for 2 seasons before departing to ABC.


Brad Nessler (1 years as lead ABC announcer on the NBA)

Nessler filled the lead play-by-play role when ABC acquired the NBA package in 2002-03. However, ABC demoted him the following season for Al Michaels. Nessler called a few secondary games on ABC in 2003-04.


Special cases

The following situations don't meet either the letter or spirit of a demotion as defined in this post, but I will include these for completeness. For example, some announcers received a partial, but not a full demotion.


Keith Jackson (25 years as lead ABC announcer on college football)

Jackson held the #1 college football position on ABC from 1974-1998. After the 1998 season he announced a retirement, but subsequently agreed to return in 1999 calling mostly west coast games to minimize his travel. Because ABC essentially used co-#1 crews including the Jackson team and because Jackson willingly accepted the lower role and would have retired otherwise, it doesn't seem fair to consider this a demotion.


Frank Gifford (15 years as lead play-by-play man on ABC Monday Night Football)

This doesn't meet the letter of the definition I am using for demotion, but is an interesting situation. After serving in the lead play-by-play role on the ABC prime time package from 1971-1985, Gifford was demoted to analyst in 1986 in favor of Al Michaels but remained on the MNF crew through 1997. In 1998, Gifford was removed from the booth for Boomer Esiason and was further demoted to a pregame host role.


Curt Gowdy (13 years as lead NBC announcer on the AFL and NFL)

Gowdy was the #1 pro football announcer on NBC from 1965-1977. NBC partially demoted him to co-#1 status with Dick Enberg in 1978 (although Gowdy handled play-by-play for Super Bowl 13 that season). He wound up moving to CBS in 1979.

Joe Garagiola (7 years as lead NBC voice on MLB)

Garagiola called play-by-play on the featured game on the NBC Game of the Week from 1976-1982. In 1983, he was demoted in favor of Vin Scully, but shifted into an analyst role and stayed on the "A" team. Joe remained on NBC as the lead analyst through 1988.


Keith Jackson (3 years as featured ABC announcer on MLB)

Jackson held the #1 role on ABC Monday Night Baseball from 1977-1979. ABC partially demoted him to co-#1 status with Al Michaels in 1980. Jackson continued in that role through 1982. At that point, he stopped calling baseball for ABC before returning to the MLB booth in 1986.


Bob Costas (3 years as lead NBC voice on the NBA)

When NBC fired Marv Albert in 1997, the network placed Costas into the #1 play-by-play position on the NBA package from 1997-98 through 1999-2000. When NBC rehired Albert for the 2000-01 season, the network reinserted Marv in the lead role. Costas continued with NBC on NBA duty by calling lower rung playoff games for 2 seasons, but it doesn't seem right to categorize this as a demotion.


Jack Buck (half year as lead CBS announcer on the NFL)

CBS elevated Buck to the #1 NFL announcer role at the start of the 1974 season. However, Buck was demoted in the middle of the 1974 season for Pat Summerall who switched from analyst to play-by-play. Buck called regional games on CBS for the rest of the year and left the network after that season.

Longest gap between games called by an announcer team

Bob Costas and Tim McCarver will almost certainly set a "record" tonight when they call the Padres-Cardinals game on MLB Network. As best as I can tell, this will mark the longest gap between games on national TV networks for the same announcer team at 33 seasons. This duo last worked together in 1982 (see note below).

So which team holds the standard they are about to break? According to my research, that would be the 25 season gap for Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery on college basketball. CBS paired them in 2015 on the #1 crew after they had last called a game together in 1990.

Here are the longest such gaps that I found (while looking at MLB, NFL, NBA, CBB, and CFB on national TV networks):

33: Bob Costas, Tim McCarver  1982 (NBC) - 2015 (MLBN)

Note: A recent MLBN press release claims that Bob and Tim last worked together in 1980 calling two games on NBC that season. However the SABR network TV database (which is based on the historical announcer research at 506sports.com) credits Costas and McCarver with working one game in 1980 and one in 1982. For the purposes of this post, I am trusting the info from SABR/506sports and suspect that the MLBN press release is incorrect.

25: Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery  1989-90 (CBS) - 2014-15 (CBS)

This gap is even more remarkable when you consider that both Nantz and Raftery worked for CBS during the entire time period.

23: Jim Simpson, Bill Raftery  1981-82 (ESPN) - 2004-05 (ESPNCL)

In 2005, ESPN Classic aired a series of Turn Back the Clock games with vintage graphics and brought back Jim Simpson (who had been a mainstay in the early ESPN years) to call the games. As far as I know, the last time Simpson worked with Raftery was this 1982 Big East matchup (although I don't have complete ESPN announcer listings for the 1980s).

19: Dick Enberg, Billy Packer, Al McGuire  1980-81 (NBC) - 1999-00 (CBS)

This is the longest gap I found for an announcer trio. After working on NBC through the 1981 NCAA Tournament, 19 seasons elapsed before CBS put them in the booth for a reunion game in 2000. Of course, Enberg and McGuire called many games as a duo during this gap.

17: Bob Costas, Bob Uecker  1997 (NBC) - 2014 (MLBN)

MLBN has added intrigue to its telecasts in recent seasons by using some old-school broadcasters. Bob Uecker had last worked with Costas during the 1997 postseason.

15: Dick Stockton, Matt Millen 2000 (Fox) - 2015 (Fox)
13: Curt Gowdy, Al DeRogatis  1975 (NBC) - 1988 (NBC)
10: Curt Gowdy, Merlin Olsen  1978 (NBC) - 1988 (NBC)

<UPDATE 1/22/2016 - Added the Stockon-Millen gap.>

Dick Stockon and Matt Millen were reunited in the Fox NFL booth for a 2015 game after having last worked together on a playoff game after the 2000 season.

During the 1988 Summer Olympics, NBC brought back some legendary announcers to fill in on September and October NFL games while much of its regular talent roster was at the Seoul games. This reunited Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis for a few games 13 seasons after they last worked together which was the longest NFL gap I found.

Note: This is not the easiest topic to research, so if you know of any announcer team gaps spanning at least 10 seasons which are missing from this list, please let me know.

Athlete/analyst from one sport who worked as a TV analyst in a different sport

Traditionally, the role of a sports TV game analyst is a former player or coach from the same sport. Here is a summary of athletes who played professionally (or at the major collegiate level) in one sport and worked as a TV analyst in that sport, but also worked as an analyst on a national TV network in a different sport.

Note: Several ex-athletes have become play-by-play announcers, hosts, or sideline reporters in another sport, but this post focuses on the unusual case of "crossover" game analysts.

Basketball

• CBS used Frank Gifford (football) as an analyst on the college basketball NIT in the 1960s.
• Pat Summerall (football) served as the CBS analyst on some ABA games in the early 1970s as well as on the NIT.
• Sonny Jurgensen (football) was the CBS analyst on some 1976 NBA playoff games.

Football

• Kyle Rote Jr (soccer) worked as a college football analyst for the USA Network in the 1980s.
• Steve Grote (college basketball) analyzed some college football games for CBS in 1983.
• Irv Brown (college basketball player and referee) worked as an analyst on some college football games for ESPN.
• While this is stretching the definition of "athlete", I will note that NBC used professional "wrestlers" Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Jerry "The King" Lawler as XFL analysts in 2001.

Baseball

• NBC added Don Meredith (football) as a guest commentator to the TV booth for one Monday Night Baseball game in 1974.
• Jay Walker (football) worked as an ESPN analyst for some College World Series regionals.

Boxing

• CBS used Tom Brookshier (football) as a boxing analyst on a few bouts in 1976 including a heavyweight title fight with Summerall on play-by-play. 

Olympics

• Both ABC (1976) and NBC (1992) used OJ Simpson (football) as a track and field analyst on sprint events. 
• Phil Simms (football) served as the NBC weightlifting analyst for the 1996 games.  

Soccer

• TNT utilized Mick Luckhurst (football) as an analyst on the 1990 World Cup.

Golf

Golf is a bit trickier as the line between play-by-play and analyst is less clear-cut. But here are some athlete/analysts from other sports who also worked in the golf TV booth:

• Tony Trabert (tennis)
• Don Sutton (baseball)
• Rick Barry (basketball)
• Terry Gannon (college basketball)
• Bob Trumpy (football)
• Pat Haden (football)
• John Brodie (football) 
• the aforementioned Gifford and Summerall

Note: Brodie did compete on the Senior PGA Tour, but since he called golf on TV prior to that stint, I included him on the list.

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms poised to break an NFL TV record

<UPDATE 12/15/2014: Nantz and Simms each broke this record and reached 22 games when they called the Thursday 12/11 Cardinals-Rams game. Both are on track to set the new mark at 26 regular season games.>

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are likely to shatter an NFL TV broadcasting record in 2014. Earlier this year, CBS acquired the rights to the new Thursday night NFL package. The network has already announced that Nantz and Simms will call the 7 Thursday night games on CBS, the 7 Thursday night games on NFL Network, and one of the Saturday games in week 16. That will put them at 15 games, but CBS also plans to use Nantz and Simms on "select" Sunday telecasts - presumably on many of the doubleheader weeks.

The expected workload for the CBS #1 crew leads into the question as to who holds the "record" in the category of most games worked in a single regular season by an NFL TV announcer. Using the historical pro football TV announcer listings at 506sports, the current record is 21 games. Frank Gifford reached this mark 4 times while OJ Simpson and Joe Namath did so once each - all for ABC.

So, if we conservatively assume that CBS assigns Nantz and Simms to a Sunday contest on 6 of the 9 CBS doubleheader weeks, then if they also work on opening Sunday and Thanksgiving Day, that would make 23 games which would easily set a new single season record. If CBS were to use them on all 8 of the "practical" doubleheader weeks (excluding week 16 due to the Saturday games), then the mark would reach 25. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

<UPDATE 12/15/2014: Nantz and Simms will not call a week 16 Saturday game, but will work that Sunday instead, They also called a week 15 game during a CBS singleheader which, along with a week 17 game, will bring their season total to 26.>

Here is the complete list of announcers I found who called 19 or more games in a single regular season:

announcer	network	season	games
Frank Gifford	ABC	1983	21
Frank Gifford	ABC	1984	21
Frank Gifford	ABC	1985	21
OJ Simpson	ABC	1985	21
Joe Namath	ABC	1985	21
Frank Gifford	ABC	1986	21
Frank Gifford	ABC	1978	20
Howard Cosell	ABC	1978	20
Frank Gifford	ABC	1979	20
Frank Gifford	ABC	1980	20
Frank Gifford	ABC	1981	20
OJ Simpson	ABC	1984	20
Don Meredith	ABC	1984	19
Al Michaels	ABC	1986	19
Paul Maguire	NBC	1996	19
Paul Maguire	NBC	1997	19
Al Michaels	NBC	2013	19
Cris Collinsworth	NBC	2013	19

With the exception of Paul Maguire, all of these announcers on the 19+ list did so while working for a network which had one of the prime time packages and which carried multiple games in select weeks. NBC twice used Maguire for 2 games on Thanksgiving weekend plus a Saturday/Sunday back-to-back late in the season.

Nantz and Simms are among a group of announcers who have called 18 games in a season. In the era of the 17-week schedule, many of the announcers on the CBS and Fox #1 crews have called 18 (typically when receiving double-duty on Thanksgiving weekend). In 1993, the NFL had an 18-week schedule, but even though the #1 announcers doubled up on Turkey Day weekend, they got a week off elsewhere. Others who have maxed out at 18 include Pat Summerall, John Madden, Dick Stockton, Matt Millen, Troy Aikman, and Greg Gumbel.

Most of these marks were set when ABC had a 20-game package starting in 1978 and a 21-game package from 1983-86. Gifford called all of those games. Al Michaels missed 2 in 1986 while covering the baseball playoffs. Cris Collinsworth joined the club in 2013 when the NBC prime time package expanded to a 19-game schedule. Some other notable #1 announcers who have never reached 18 are Joe Buck (who annually misses games to cover the MLB playoffs) and Dick Enberg (who often had golf conflicts).

Longest runs for announcer trios on network TV

In 1970, ABC producer Roone Arledge decided to feature the unique Howard Cosell as part of a 3-man booth on the Monday Night Football telecast team. Later that decade, NBC added colorful personality Al McGuire, to its top college basketball crew, forming a popular trio with Dick Enberg and Billy Packer. The success of these announcer combinations made the 3-man booth a more prominent part of the sports TV landscape.

Which 3-man booths have remained intact the longest? How does the recent 10-season streak by the ESPN team of Sean McDonough, Bill Raftery, and Jay Bilas rank against other network TV announcing trios? How common is it for a team of 3 announcers to stay together for more than a few seasons?

Previous posts in this series compiled consecutive season streaks for individual announcers at the national network TV level and looked at the longest running network TV announcer duos. As in the earlier posts, I am using a guideline that if a trio worked together for at least one regular season or playoff game during a season, then that season counts toward the streak. This post looks at the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football, and college basketball. For each sport, I listed all streaks I found of at least 3 seasons.

The record holders in this category are the trio of Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, and Dan Dierdorf who lasted 11 consecutive seasons in the ABC Monday Night Football booth. One factor that stands out is how rare it is for a 3-man crew to last very long. Across the sports I researched, I found only five cases where a booth trio remained together for more than 5 seasons and identified just two active streaks of at least 3 seasons.

The breakdown by sport (with * denoting an active streak):


NFL

11: Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf (1987-97)
 8: Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, Paul Maguire (1998-05)
 7: Frank Gifford, Don Meredith, Howard Cosell (1977-83)
 3: Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire, Phil Simms (1995-97)
 3: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth (2002-04)
 3: Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden (2009-11)

The NFL has three of the top four overall streaks led by the Michaels/Gifford/Dierdorf team whose record run of 11 stands to last for quite some time. The Patrick/Theismann/Maguire combination called Sunday Night Football on ESPN for 8 straight seasons. The Gifford/Meredith/Cosell crew checks in at 3rd on the NFL list with a streak of 7 seasons. That trio had a separate 3-year run from 1971-73. Gifford actually made two of the five longest streaks across all these sports and is the only announcer to appear here in both the play-by-play and analyst roles.

Note: Since I am only considering booth announcers, the team of Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and sideline analyst Tony Siragusa didn't qualify for the list. Otherwise, this team would have an active streak of 11 seasons (2003-13). They were not a permanent team in the early years, but did work some games as a trio each season when Fox shuffled its NFL announcer crews during the weeks of the MLB postseason.


college basketball

10: Sean McDonough, Bill Raftery, Jay Bilas (2003-04 to 2012-13)
 4: Dick Enberg, Billy Packer, Al McGuire (1977-78 to 1980-81)
 3: Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Steve Kerr (2010-11 to 2012-13)
 3: Kevin Harlan, Len Elmore, Reggie Miller (2011-12 to 2013-14) *

The ESPN Big Monday team of McDonough/Raftery/Bilas holds the largest lead in any of these sports. The legendary Enberg/Packer/McGuire team lasted only 4 seasons, but that is good enough for 2nd place on this list. That trio also worked a "reunion" game in 2000. The Nantz and Harlan crews were primarily NCAA Tournament combinations. Enberg also appears on the NFL list.


college football

 6: Mike Tirico, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso (1999-04)
 4: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, Mark May (2006-09)
 3: Dave Barnett, Bill Curry, Mike Golic (2000-02)
 3: Dave Pasch, Rod Gilmore, Trevor Matich (2004-06)
 3: Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire (2006-08)

The Tirico/Herbstreit/Corso team manned the ESPN Thursday night booth for 6 consecutive seasons and holds the record for college football. Tirico also appears on the NFL list. All of the streaks on this list are relatively recent with none starting prior to 1999.

MLB

 5: Keith Jackson, Don Drysdale, Howard Cosell (1978-82)
 5: Al Michaels, Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver (1985-89)
 4: Bob Costas, Joe Morgan, Bob Uecker (1994-97)
 4: Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Bob Brenly (1996-99)
 3: Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Steve Phillips (2007-09)

A pair of ABC Monday Night Baseball crews are tied for the longest MLB streak at 5 seasons. The Michaels/Palmer/McCarver trio had a separate 2-season stint in 1994-95. With the exception of 1995, the NBC team of Costas/Morgan/Uecker worked only All-Star and postseason games. The Fox team of Buck/McCarver/Brenly was primarily a postseason arrangement. Cosell (who always seemed to be part of a 3-man booth on team sports), Michaels, and Buck also appear on the NFL list.


NBA

 5: Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson (2006-07 to 2010-11)
 4: Greg Gumbel, Steve Jones, Bill Walton (1994-95 to 1997-98)
 4: Kevin Harlan, Danny Ainge, John Thompson (1999-00 to 2002-03)
 4: Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller (2010-11 to 2013-14) *
 3: Marv Albert, Matt Guokas, Bill Walton (1994-95 to 1996-97)
 3: Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Doug Collins (2004-05 to 2006-07)

As we have seen with the previous editions in this series, the longest NBA streak in this category trails that of the other sports. The team of Breen, Van Gundy, and Jackson lasted 5 seasons on ESPN/ABC before Jackson left to take a coaching job. All three of the teams involving Albert were used primarily in late playoff rounds rather than remaining intact for those entire seasons. Harlan also appears on the college basketball list. The Albert/Kerr/Miller team has the longest active streak across all the sports I researched. However, if Kerr leaves TV for a coaching position as rumored, that run will end at 4 seasons.

As before, the historical sports TV listings at 506sports proved helpful in researching this post.

Longest lasting network TV announcer duos

Joe Buck and Tim McCarver worked together from 1996-2013 in the Fox baseball TV booth. How does their on-air partnership of 18 years stack up historically against other network TV announcer duos? Which national broadcast pairings have remained intact the longest in various sports? Which tandems hold the longest active streaks? To follow up on my look last year at consecutive season streaks by network TV broadcasters, here is a summary of my research on similar streaks by pairs of announcers.

A few groundrules:

• As in the earlier post, I am using a guideline that if a duo worked together for at least one regular season or playoff game during a season, then that season counts toward the streak.
• I am only considering cases where exactly two announcers worked together in the TV booth. So I am not counting a pair of announcers who were part of a 3-man crew unless I found evidence that the pair worked as a duo for at least one qualifying game that season. (For completeness, I am planning a future post to cover such streaks by announcer trios.)
• This post covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football, and college basketball on national TV networks. For each sport, I listed the longest 10 or so streaks.

Among the sports I researched, the record holders are Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale with a run of 23 consecutive seasons on college basketball. The legendary team of Pat Summerall and John Madden come in second with a streak of 21 years on the NFL. Overall, I found only six streaks longer than 15 seasons.

Here is the breakdown by sport:

* denotes active streak
# denotes active streak but which is not expected to continue


NFL

21:  Pat Summerall, John Madden  (1981-2001)
12:  Dick Enberg, Merlin Olsen  (1977-1988)
11:  Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann  (1988-1998)
11:  Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston  (2003-2013) *
10:  Jim Nantz, Phil Simms  (2004-2013) *
 9:  Charlie Jones, George Ratterman  (1964-1972)
 9:  Joe Buck, Troy Aikman  (2005-2013) *
 8:  Ian Eagle, Solomon Wilcots  (2001-2008)
 8:  Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf  (2006-2013) #
 7:  Dick Stockton, Matt Millen  (1994-2000)

Summerall and Madden have the longest NFL streak (a run that spanned a move from CBS to Fox). The tandem of Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen holds second place for now. Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston have the longest active streak. (Note: Since I am only counting only booth announcers, I am treating this team as a duo rather than a trio because Tony Siragusa serves as a sideline analyst.) Charlie Jones and George Ratterman started their streak on the AFL.

college basketball

23:  Mike Patrick, Dick Vitale  (1986-87 to 2008-09)

18:  Jim Nantz, Billy Packer  (1990-91 to 2007-08)

16:  Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel  (1997-98 to 2012-13) *

15:  Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery  (1998-99 to 2012-13) *

13:  Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale  (2001-02 to 2013-14) *

11:  Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale  (1991-92 to 2001-02)

11:  Brent Musburger, Dick Vitale  (1993-94 to 2003-04)                    

11:  Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes  (2004-05 to 2013-14) *

10:  Verne Lundquist, Billy Packer  (1998-99 to 2007-08)  

 9:  Marv Albert, Bucky Waters  (1980-81 to 1988-89)

 9:  Dick Enberg, Al McGuire  (1981-82 to 1989-90)    

 9:  Tim Brando, Mike Gminski  (2004-05 to 2012-13) #

College basketball tends to have the longest streaks. Patrick and Vitale teamed up for many ACC games on ESPN over their 23-season run. Jim Nantz and Billy Packer check in at 18 seasons, all of which concluded with the Final Four. Longtime NCAA Tournament partners Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel have the longest active streak with the team of Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery right behind. Vitale has worked regularly with several play-by-play announcers over the years and appears four times on this list. With Nantz working a limited regular season schedule for many years, CBS often paired Lundquist with Packer and that duo cracks this list with 10 straight seasons.  

college football

14:  Ron Franklin, Mike Gottfried  (1991-04)

13:  Keith Jackson, Bob Griese  (1987-99)
10:  Bob Neal, Tim Foley (1982-1991)

10:  Tom Hammond, Pat Haden  (2000-09)

 9:  Keith Jackson, Frank Broyles  (1977-85)

 8:  Keith Jackson, Ara Parseghian  (1974-81)  

 8:  Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson  (2006-13) *

 8:  Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit  (2006-13) #

 7:  Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson  (1966-72)

 7:  Brent Musburger, Dick Vermeil  (1990-96)

 7:  Brad Nessler, Bob Griese  (1999-05)

 6:  Brent Musburger, Gary Danielson  (1999-05)

Ron Franklin and Mike Gottfried were fixtures in the ESPN Saturday night TV booth for 14 straight seasons. They top the tandem of Keith Jackson and Bob Griese by a single season. If we have indeed seen the last of the Brent Musburger pairing with Kirk Herbstreit, then the team of Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson should take sole possession of the longest active streak when the upcoming season starts. Jackson and Musburger each appear three times on this list.

MLB

19: Jon Miller, Joe Morgan  (1990-08)
18: Joe Buck, Tim McCarver  (1996-13) #  

 9:  Joe Garagiola, Tony Kubek  (1974-82)
 9:  Dave O'Brien, Rick Sutcliffe  (2002-10)

 8:  Bob Costas, Tony Kubek  (1982-89)

 7:  Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubek  (1969-75)

 7:  Chris Berman, Buck Martinez  (1993-99)

 7:  Chris Berman, Rick Sutcliffe  (1999-05)

 7:  Kenny Albert, Eric Karros  (2007-13) *

 6:  Dizzy Dean, Buddy Blattner  (1953-58)
 6:  Vin Scully, Joe Garagiola  (1983-88)

I only found two MLB streaks of at least 10 years, but they were among the longest overall. The ESPN Sunday night duo of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan holds the top spot, nosing out Buck and McCarver by one season. With McCarver retiring from Fox, the team of Kenny Albert and Eric Karros will inherit the longest active streak. Tony Kubek appears three times on this list. Joe Garagiola appears on the list in both the play-by-play and analyst roles.

NBA

 8:  Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown  (2006-07 to 2013-14) *

 7:  Dick Stockton, Hubie Brown  (1995-96 to 2001-02)                      

 7:  Kevin Harlan, Doug Collins  (2003-04 to 2009-10)

 6:  Bob Neal, Hubie Brown  (1990-91 to 1995-96) 

 6:  Bob Neal, Doug Collins  (1990-91 to 1995-96)

 6:  Ron Thulin, Doug Collins  (1990-91 to 1995-96) 

 6:  Pete Van Wieren, Doug Collins  (1990-91 to 1995-96)

 5:  Chris Schenkel, Jack Twyman  (1966-67 to 1970-71)

 5:  Marv Albert, Mike Fratello  (1999-00 to 2003-04)

The NBA produces much shorter streaks than the other sports as many analysts bounce back and forth between the TV booth and coaching jobs. Despite never being the #1 team on ABC/ESPN, Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown hold the NBA record at 8 seasons which is also the longest active mark. Turner Sports mixed and matched Brown and Doug Collins with several play-by-play announcers in the early 1990s which explains the overlapping streaks featuring those analysts. Overall, Collins appears four times on this list and Brown shows up three times. 

A few final notes:

• This is not the easiest topic to research, but I did my best to identify the longest such streaks. If I missed any announcer team that belongs on one of these lists, please let me know.
• The historical sports TV research at 506sports served as a key resource for this post.

Kevin Burkhardt joins rare list with NFL playoff assignment in debut season

Tomorrow, Kevin Burkhardt will cap off his debut season in the NFL TV booth for Fox when he calls the Saints-Seahawks divisional playoff game with John Lynch. In a rare move, Fox gave Burkhardt an NFL playoff assignment during his first season of network TV play-by-play. How rare is this? Such a distinction last occurred 36 years ago. Prior to Burkhardt, the last play-by-play announcer to call an NFL playoff telecast in his first season at the network level was Dick Enberg on NBC during the 1977 postseason.

Since the 1970 merger, I only found 5 cases where a play-by-play announcer was assigned a playoff game in his first season calling the NFL on network TV. Here is the unique list that Burkhardt joins (note: the year refers to the NFL season even when the playoff game was in the following January).

• Kevin Burkhardt (Fox) - 2013
• Dick Enberg (NBC) - 1977
• Vin Scully (CBS) - 1975
• Gary Bender (CBS) - 1975
• Brent Musburger (CBS) - 1974

Back in the 1970s, the networks were more likely to spread playoff assignments around to more announcers even with fewer postseason games. CBS actually used two first-year play-by-play announcers during the 1975 playoffs. Another interesting aspect is that the first playoff assignments for Enberg and Scully were conference championships. The others on the list were divisional playoff games.

Even in the years when ABC and NBC have carried a wild-card playoff doubleheader while only using one regular season broadcast crew, the second play-by-play announcer always had NFL network TV experience from a prior season.

Consecutive season streaks for network TV announcers

On Sunday 12/8, Don Criqui called the Browns-Patriots game for CBS which extended his streak of calling at least one NFL game on network TV to a staggering 47 consecutive years. Criqui started calling pro football on CBS in 1967, and while he has seen limited NFL duty in recent years, he has yet to completely miss out on a season. He was not scheduled to work games this year, but got the call as a short-notice replacement.

This got me wondering about sizable consecutive season streaks by other announcers so I decided to compile a informal "record book" on a sport-by-sport basis. Who holds the consecutive season mark in various sports? Which active broadcasters are positioned to set a new standard? For the purposes of this post, I am looking at consecutive seasons where a booth announcer called at least one regular season or playoff game for the same sport on a national TV network. Besides the NFL, I looked at college football, college basketball, the NBA, and MLB. I listed the top 5 streaks in each sport along with other streaks longer than 20 that I found.

Note: I want to credit the great collection of historical sports TV research over at 506sports as a key resource for this post.

* denotes active streak


NFL

47:  Don Criqui 1967-2013 * (but not expected to continue)

41:  Pat Summerall 1962-2002

38:  Charlie Jones 1960-1997

35:  Dick Stockton 1979-2013 *

32:  Frank Gifford 1966-1997

30:  John Madden 1979-2008

29:  Dan Dierdorf 1985-2013 * (but not expected to continue)

28:  Al Michaels 1986-2013 *
22:  Tom Brookshier 1965-1986

21:  Dick Enberg 1977-1997

21:  Marv Albert 1977-1997
21:  Joe Theismann 1986-2006

Criqui holds the record across all the sports categories I have researched. He broke the previous record of 41 by Pat Summerall which still stands as the second longest streak across these sports. I am including the AFL, which puts Charlie Jones in third place. Pro football tends to have the longest such streaks with 6 announcers at the 30+ level. Assuming Criqui is done with the NFL, Dick Stockton will inherit the longest active streak. Joe Buck just misses the current cut at 20, but figures to move up on this list.

college football

40:  Keith Jackson 1966-2005

30:  Brent Musburger 1984-2013 *

24:  Bob Griese 1987-2010
24:  Gary Danielson 1990-2013 *

22:  Ron Franklin 1989-2010

Keith Jackson holds the college football record by a decent margin. His entire run came with ABC making his the longest such streak for the same network. Even though ABC moved him to the NFL in 1970 for the first season of Monday Night Football, Keith kept this streak alive by also calling a college game that season. Brent Musburger owns the longest active streak. 

college basketball

35:  Billy Packer 1973-74 to 2007-08
35:  Dick Vitale 1979-80 to 2013-14 *

32:  Mike Patrick 1982-83 to 2013-14 *
32:  Bill Raftery 1982-83 to 2013-14 *
30:  Tim Brando 1984-85 to 2013-14 *

29:  Brent Musburger 1984-85 to 2012-13 *
27:  Jim Nantz 1987-88 to 2013-14 *
26:  Larry Conley 1982-83 to 2007-08
26:  Dan Bonner 1988-89 to 2013-14 *

23:  Al McGuire 1977-78 to 1999-00

22:  Ron Franklin 1989-90 to 2010-11

21:  Jimmy Dykes 1993-94 to 2013-14 *

Dick Vitale recently started his 35th season calling games for ESPN. This ties him with Billy Packer who called some NCAA Tournament games for NBC in 1974 and 1975 before becoming the analyst for the inaugural regular season college hoop package in 1975-76. If I were to count syndicated national telecasts, then the Packer streak would extend backwards one more season and be at 36. Several announcers on this list remain active. Vitale of course holds the longest active streak and recently expressed visions of extending the streak to 50 years. Musburger, who also appears on the CFB list, will make it 30 years on each sport once he calls a game this season. Ron Franklin also appears on the same two lists.

MLB

34:  Tim McCarver 1980-2013 * (but not expected to continue)

 

26:  Joe Morgan 1985-2010

25:  Jon Miller 1986-2010

24:  Tony Kubek 1966-1989

24:  Chris Berman 1990-2013 *

Tim McCarver departs the network TV scene with a 8-season lead in the MLB category. Chris Berman becomes the active leader at 24 seasons. Joe Buck sits at 18 just 9 years away from the #2 spot on this list.

Special note: The remarkable Vin Scully is preparing for his 65th consecutive season in the Dodgers TV booth. However, because this post deals with streaks on national TV networks, he doesn't make the list.

NBA

21:  Steve Jones 1987-88 to 2007-08

19:  Kevin Harlan 1995-96 to 2013-14 *
18:  Hubie Brown 1984-85 to 2001-02

18:  Dick Stockton 1995-96 to 2012-13 *

17:  Mike Breen 1997-98 to 2013-14 *

The NBA has the shortest streaks of the sports covered in this post. Steve "Snapper" Jones holds the current mark for his work on TBS, NBC, ESPN, and NBATV. Kevin Harlan has the longest active streak and will likely set the NBA record in a few years. Hubie Brown would presumably hold the record (by a wide margin) had he not left the TV booth to coach the Grizzlies for a few seasons. Marv Albert does not make the list due to the 1997 firing by NBC resulting in his absence from the national TV airwaves for a few seasons. Stockton also appears on the NFL list.

History of Presidents Cup TV coverage (1994-present)

The Presidents Cup launched in 1994 to capitalize on the growing popularity of the biennial Ryder Cup and fill the void in the off-years.

Here is a summary of my research on how the TV coverage of the Presidents Cup has evolved since the start of this event. For match venues outside of North America, the time zone challenges have resulted in some interesting TV scheduling. All listings of hours refer to scheduled TV coverage. 

<EDITED on 12/11/2019 to bring this up to date as of the 2019 event>  

Chronology of Presidents Cup TV coverage

1994 - CBS and ESPN covered the inaugural Presidents Cup which was a 3-day event with double sessions on Friday and Saturday. ESPN televised the Friday action with Jim Kelly hosting. CBS handled the weekend coverage (3 hours on Saturday and 4 on Sunday) with Jim Nantz and Ken Venturi anchoring the booth. Gary McCord, Ben Wright, Verne Lundquist, Peter Kostis, and Jim Nelford were also part of the CBS crew. This event took place during the first year that CBS had lost the NFL rights, so the Sunday coverage went up against football on both Fox and NBC. Multiple CBS affiliates (Baltimore, Tampa, Tucson) chose not to air the network coverage of the Presidents Cup that weekend.

1996 - For the second straight time, the event was held in the USA and the TV coverage was similar to 1994. This was the first year of a new college football package on CBS with Nantz as the lead announcer. But the network didn't cover any football games on Presidents Cup weekend, so Nantz called the golf matches.

1998 - The matches took place in Australia and the 16-hour time difference from the USA east coast resulted in some interesting programming. ESPN provided live coverage of the Friday sessions stating at 4 pm ET on Thursday. On Friday at 4 pm ET, ESPN covered the Saturday morning session live. However, CBS held the Saturday afternoon session for 16-hour tape delay on Saturday. On Sunday, CBS televised 3 hours of the singles matches on tape delay at 4 pm ET after its NFL coverage of 1 pm ET games. CBS did not send Nantz to Australia, instead keeping him in his host role on The NFL Today that weekend. Bill Macatee served as lead announcer for the Presidents Cup alongside Venturi.

2000 - The event remained at 5 sessions but expanded to the current 4-day format (starting Thursday afternoon and leaving Friday as the only double session day). The Presidents Cup also acquired new TV partners. TNT covered the Thursday and Friday sessions with Ernie Johnson anchoring. NBC televised the weekend action (6 hours each day) with Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller as the lead announcers. By this time, NBC had lost the NFL contract.

2003 - With the event in South Africa, all TV coverage (a combined 29 hours on TNT and NBC) was on tape delay.

2005 - The double session moved to its current Saturday spot on the schedule. NBC expanded to 16 weekend hours.

2007 - This event took place in Canada so the TV schedule was identical to that of 2005.

2009 - Golf Channel took over the cable rights. Brian Hammons hosted the action on GC with Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo as co-lead analysts. Hicks and Miller continued to host the NBC telecasts with many of the NBC voices working the telecasts on both networks.

2011 - The matches returned to Australia with its 16-hour time difference. This time Golf Channel covered the entire event live with telecasts spanning prime time on Wednesday through Saturday evenings in the USA. The NBC weekend coverage consisted of taped replays of the final two days of Golf Channel telecasts. Terry Gannon hosted day 1 while Hicks and Miller came aboard on day 2. David Feherty was also part of the GC telecast team.

2013 - The TV schedule was quite similar to 2009. Gannon and Frank Nobilo anchored the Golf Channel coverage while Hicks and Miller once again led the NBC telecast team.

2015 - With the matches in South Korea (13 hour time difference), the TV coverage was patterned after that of 2011. Golf Channel provided live coverage in prime time of each session while NBC again offered taped replays of the Saturday and Sunday action.

2017 - The coverage is similar to 2013 with Golf Channel adding a half hour over what it did that year.

2019 - With the matches in Australia, the TV coverage was similar to that of 2011.


Total scheduled TV time for the Presidents Cup by year

Note: All coverage live except where noted. For 2011, 2015, and 2019, I am not counting the NBC coverage in the total hours since it was a replay of what aired on Golf Channel.

1994:            15.5 hours (8.5 on ESPN, 7 on CBS)

1996:            17.5 hours (8.5 on ESPN, 9 on CBS)
1998:            22 hours (14 on ESPN, 8 on CBS) - all CBS coverage on tape delay

2000:            29 hours (17 on TNT, 12 on NBC)
2003:            29 hours (17 on TNT, 12 on NBC) - all TV coverage on tape delay
2005-2007:  27 hours (11 on TNT, 16 on NBC)
2009:            27 hours (11 on GC, 16 on NBC)
2011:            29.5 hours (29.5 on GC, 14 on NBC) - all NBC coverage on tape delay (replay of GC coverage)
2013:            27 hours (11 on GC, 16 on NBC)
2015:            27.5 hours (27.5 on GC, 9.5 on NBC) - all NBC coverage on tape delay (replay of GC coverage)

2017:            27.5 hours (11.5 on GC, 16 on NBC)
2019:            28.5 hours (28.5 on GC, 8.5 on NBC) - all NBC coverage on tape delay (replay of GC coverage)

History of PGA Championship TV coverage (1958-present)

The PGA Championship made its debut on national TV in 1958. That year, the tournament shifted from a match play competition to the current (and more suitable to TV executives) 72-hole stroke play event. 

Here is a summary of my research on how the coverage of this major championship event has evolved since then. All listings of hours refer to scheduled live TV coverage.

<EDITED on 5/13/2019 to bring this up to date as of the 2019 tournament>  

Chronology of PGA Championship TV coverage

1958 - The PGA Championship was televised for the first time as CBS provided a total of 2.5 hours on the weekend with Jim McKay and John Derr on the call. CBS covered holes 15-18.

1961 - Chris Schenkel became the lead announcer on CBS after McKay left the network. The tournament required an 18-hole playoff on Monday, and CBS added an hour of joined-in-progress coverage of that.

1965 - The tournament moved to ABC where it would remain for 26 years. Schenkel, who had recently moved to ABC retained the primary announcer role. Bryon Nelson began a run as lead analyst. McKay was also part of the ABC crew. ABC upped the coverage to 3.5 hours.

1966 - The PGA Championship was televised in color for the first time. 

1967 - ABC added an hour on Monday to cover the end of the 18-hole playoff.

1970 - Dave Marr worked his first PGA Championship, but Nelson remained the primary analyst.

1971 - The PGA Championship was moved to February, but starting the following year has been played in August ever since. Up through 1968 the event was often held in July, sometimes taking place just one week after the British Open.

1974 - Marr became the lead analyst and would retain this role until ABC lost the network TV rights.

1976 - McKay took over as lead announcer. The tournament was delayed by rain and finished on Monday. ABC added 2 hours of coverage that afternoon.

1979 - ABC increased the total coverage to 5.5 hours.

1982 - ESPN provided the first cable coverage of the tournament with 3 hours on both Thursday and Friday. ABC expanded to 3 hours per day on the weekend. 

1984 - There was no cable coverage of the first two rounds. 

1985 - ESPN returned for weekday coverage and expanded to 3.5 hours each day. ABC increased to 3.5 hours on each weekend day. 

1986 - Jim Simpson and Bruce Devlin anchored the ESPN coverage which  increased to 4 hours each weekday. ABC added 2.5 hours of joined-in-progress coverage on Monday to show the conclusion of the tournament which had been delayed by rain. ABC added Jack Nicklaus to its commentary team.

1987 - Roger Twibell took over as lead voice on the ESPN telecasts.

1988 - ABC expanded to 4 hours on each weekend day, providing full 18-hole coverage of the leaders for the first time. McKay sat out the event so Jack Whitaker served as lead announcer for ABC. McKay would return to this role in 1989.

1990 - Twibell anchored the ABC coverage.

1991 - The TV coverage underwent massive changes. TBS took over the cable package and increased the weekday coverage to 6 hours per day. TBS also added 2 hours of Saturday and Sunday coverage. Bob Neal and Bobby Clampett anchored the TBS coverage. TBS also used golf instructor David Leadbetter,  former LPGA player Donna Caponi, and NFL analyst Pat Haden. CBS acquired the network rights and provided 4.5 hours each on Saturday and Sunday with Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi working the 18th tower. Jim Nantz and Gary McCord were part of the CBS crew and have worked every PGA Championship since. Other members of the CBS team were Ben Wright and Steve Melnyk.

1992 - TBS installed Leadbetter as its lead analyst. Gary Bender and MLB analyst Don Sutton were also part of the TBS crew. 

1994 - Nantz took over the lead spot on CBS for the first time on a golf major.

1995 - Ernie Johnson became the primary anchor on TBS with Marr as lead analyst. CBS used former LPGA player Mary Bryan on its telecast. Some media reports at the time claimed that this was the first time a female worked a men's golf major, but ABC used Marilynn Smith on the 1973 US Open.

1996 - Clampett once again assumed the lead Turner analyst role. Bryan moved over to join the TBS team.

1998 - CBS expanded to 5 hours on each weekend day.

1999 - Turner Sports moved the cable coverage to TNT where it has remained ever since. Johnson and Clampett remained as the primary announcers.

2002 - Lanny Wadkins took over as lead CBS analyst.

2004 - CBS and TNT televised the PGA Championship in HDTV for the first time.

2005 - CBS added coverage starting at 10am ET of the Monday finish which was necessitated by rain on Sunday.

2006 - Verne Lundquist filled in on TNT for Johnson who was undergoing chemotherapy.

2007 - Nick Faldo became the lead analyst on CBS.

2008 - Ian Baker-Finch took over as lead TNT analyst.

2011 - Lundquist stepped in for Johnson on the TNT Sunday telecast after Ernie's father passed away.

2012 - TNT added coverage starting at 8am ET on Sunday to cover the end of round 3 after inclement weather stopped play on Saturday.

2016 - The PGA Championship moved to late July because golf was added to the Olympic Games. TNT added two bonus hours on Sunday to cover the weather-delayed conclusion of round 3.

2019 - The event moves to May on a permanent basis.

Total scheduled live TV time for the PGA Championship by year

Note: I am not including added coverage (such as 18-hole playoffs) in these numbers, but I did mention these cases in the above chronology.

1958-1964:  2.5 hours (CBS)

1965-1970:  3.5 hours (ABC)
1971:             4 hours (ABC)
1972-1973:  3.5 hours (ABC)
1974:             4 hours (ABC)
1975:             3.5 hours (ABC)
1976-1978:   4 hours (ABC)

1979-1981:   5.5 hours (ABC)

1982-1983:  12 hours (6 on ESPN, 6 on ABC)
1984:              6 hours (ABC)
1985:             14 hours (7 on ESPN, 7 on ABC)
1986-1987:  15 hours (8 on ESPN, 7 on ABC)

1988-1990:  16 hours (8 on ESPN, 8 on ABC)

1991-1996:   25 hours (16 on TBS, 9 on CBS)
1997:              26 hours (17 on TBS, 9 on CBS)
1998:              27 hours (17 on TBS, 10 on CBS)

1999-2005:  27 hours (17 on TNT, 10 on CBS)
2006-2009:  28 hours (18 on TNT, 10 on CBS)
2010:             29 hours (19 on TNT, 10 on CBS)
2011-2018:   28 hours (18 on TNT, 10 on CBS)
2019:             28.5 hours (18.5 on TNT, 10 on CBS)

History of British Open on US TV (1962-present)

The British Open (more properly titled The Open Championship) is the oldest golf major, but has the shortest history on US TV. However, by 2010, the tournament with the distinctive yellow scoreboards was getting the most network TV coverage in the US of any golf major.

For many years the networks holding the US TV rights would televise the tournament primarily using video feeds from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). For the entire decade of the 1970s, all US TV coverage was on tape delay. The Open also lagged far behind the other majors in moving to HDTV broadcasts.

For detailed TV schedules and announcers by year, see my complete research on British Open TV history over at 506sports (free registration required to view).

<EDITED on 7/17/2019 to bring this up to date as of the 2019 tournament>  

Chronology of British Open TV coverage

1961 - ABC had planned to provide taped coverage of the Friday 7/14 final round on Wide World of Sports the next day, but ABC scrapped those plans when the Friday action was rained out. At the time, the British Open was scheduled as a 3-day event ending with 36 holes on Friday. The 36-hole finish took place on Saturday with no US TV coverage.

1962 - ABC provided taped coverage of the Friday action on a Sunday edition of Wide World of Sports with Jim McKay narrating. ABC would do the same but on a next-day basis on Saturdays from 1963-1965.

1966 - The Open changed to a 4-day format with the final round on Saturday. For the first time, ABC televised the event live. The network provided 1.5 hours of coverage via Early Bird satellite of the Saturday round with McKay and Byron Nelson calling the action.

1968 - Chris Schenkel worked alongside Nelson for the telecast which covered the final 4 holes.

1969 - ABC increased to 3 hours of live coverage. This was the first time the Open was televised in color in the US.

1970 - After 4 consecutive years of live telecasts, ABC regressed to late afternoon tape delay coverage of the Saturday final round and would continue this throughout the 1970s. ABC also reduced its coverage to 1.5 hours. Dave Marr joined the ABC crew. On Sunday, ABC added tape delayed coverage of the 18-hole playoff.

1972- ABC expanded the tape delayed coverage to 2 hours and this would remain the case through 1979.

1975 - ABC added coverage of the Sunday 18-hole playoff on tape delay. ABC started using Peter Alliss from the BBC on the Open. Alliss would split time on the BBC and US TV networks on Open coverage every year through 2015.

1980 - The Open shifted to the modern Thursday-Sunday schedule. On Saturday, ABC carried 1 hour on tape delay, but the network provided 2 hours of live coverage on Sunday. This was the first live coverage of the event on ABC since 1969.

1981 - ABC provided 1.5 hours of live coverage on Saturday for a weekend total of 3.5 hours.

1982 - ESPN provided 11 hours of coverage of the Thursday and Friday rounds. Jim Simpson and Lou Palmer were among the announcers during the early years of the ESPN coverage. ABC increased to 2 hours on Saturday. Jack Whitaker joined the ABC team.

1984 - McKay did not work the Open as ABC kept him in the US to prepare for the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics. Whitaker anchored the ABC telecasts. ABC increased the Sunday coverage to 3 hours.

1988 - Due to heavy rain, the final round was delayed until Monday. ABC added 1.5 hours of tape delayed coverage of the Monday finish.

1990 - ABC expanded to 4 hours each day on the weekend. Roger Twibell anchored the ABC coverage.

1992 - Brent Musburger took over as the ABC lead announcer with Steve Melnyk as lead analyst.

1993 - Peter Jacobsen worked as lead analyst for ABC, but Melnyk would resume this role again the following year.

1997 - Mike Tirico took over as the ABC lead announcer.

1998 - ABC installed Curtis Strange as its lead analyst.

1999 - ABC moved the Saturday coverage to ESPN around 11:30am so that ABC News could follow the search for the missing plane of John F. Kennedy Jr.

2000 - ABC increased to 4.5 hours on each weekend day.

2001 - ABC expanded to 5.5 hours on both Saturday and Sunday and would continue this schedule through 2009.

2003 - TNT took over the Thursday and Friday rounds. Ernie Johnson and Bobby Clampett anchored the TNT coverage which also used some of the ABC announcers. TNT also started providing 2 hours of early morning coverage on both weekend days prior to the ABC air-time.

2004 - ABC installed Ian Baker-Finch and Nick Faldo as co-#1 analysts.

2005 - Paul Azinger joined Faldo as ABC co-lead analyst. Faldo made the cut in the event and joined the ABC coverage after finishing play.

2006 - Tirico filled in on TNT for Johnson who was undergoing chemotherapy.

2008 - ABC added Tom Watson to its TV team after Faldo left for CBS. Watson played in the event, but missed the cut. Baker-Finch took over as lead analyst on TNT.

2009 - Watson had again been scheduled to join the ABC weekend telecasts. However, he never made it to the broadcast booth as he not only made the cut, but nearly won the tournament.

2010 - ESPN took over the entire tournament. This marked the first time that a men's golf major was exclusively on cable in the US. ESPN began the Thursday and Friday coverage at 4am ET and stayed on the air for a scheduled 11 live hours both days. Tirico and Azinger remained as the lead announcers. This was also the first British Open televised in HDTV.

2014 - ESPN shifted its Saturday coverage to start at 5am ET after the tournament moved tee times earlier due to an ominous weather forecast.

2015 - ESPN started the Saturday coverage at 2am ET to show completion of the second round (but that was soon halted for wind). The third round was moved to Sunday. ESPN added Monday coverage of the final round.

2016 - NBC took over the rights and combined with Golf Channel for 49.5 hours of scheduled live coverage - a record to date for any golf major. This marks the first major for GC which came on the air at 1:30 am ET on Thursday and Friday for a total of 14.5 scheduled hours both days. Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller anchored the NBC telecasts.

2019 - Paul Azinger takes over the NBC lead analyst role replacing the retired Johnny Miller. 

Total scheduled US TV time for the British Open by year

Note: I am not including added coverage (such as playoffs) in these numbers, but I did mention these cases in the above chronology. I am also not including taped highlight shows, but am including original tape delay coverage. The hours represent live coverage except where noted.

1962-1965:   at most 1.5 hours (ABC) - covered on tape as part of Wide World of Sports
1966-1968:   1.5 hours (ABC)
1969:             3 hours (ABC)
1970-1971:  1.5 hours on tape delay (ABC)
1972-1979:  2 hours on tape delay (ABC)
1980:            3 hours total with 1 on tape delay and 2 live (ABC)
1981:             3.5 hours (ABC)
1982:             15 hours (11 on ESPN, 4 on ABC)
1983              14 hours (10 on ESPN, 4 on ABC)
1984-1989:   15 hours (10 on ESPN, 5 on ABC)
1990-1999:   18 hours (10 on ESPN, 8 on ABC)
2000:             21 hours (12 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)
2001-2002:   23 hours (12 on ESPN, 11 on ABC)
2003-2004:   30 hours (19 on TNT, 11 on ABC)
2005-2006:   31 hours (20 on TNT, 11 on ABC)
2007-2009:   30 hours (19 on TNT, 11 on ABC)
2010-2011:    37 hours (ESPN)
2012:              36 hours (ESPN)
2013-2015:    37 hours (ESPN)
2016:             49.5 hours (35 on GC, 14.5 on NBC)
2017:             49.5 hours (34.5 on GC, 15 on NBC)
2018:             49 hours (34 on GC, 15 on NBC)
2019:             48 hours (33 on GC, 15 on NBC)

History of US Open golf TV coverage (1954-present)

The US Open has the longest TV history of any of the golf majors. It stands unique as the only major which still conducts an 18-hole playoff.

The TV coverage of the US Open continues to dwarf that of the Masters. Here is a summary of my research on how the coverage of our national championship has evolved since 1954. All listings of hours refer to scheduled TV coverage.

<EDITED on 6/14/2019 to bring this up to date as of the 2019 tournament>  

Chronology of US Open TV coverage

1954 - The US Open was televised nationally for the first time as NBC provided 2 hours of Saturday coverage anchored by Lindsey Nelson. At the time, the tournament was a 3-day event concluding with 36 holes on Saturday.

1955 - NBC provided only one hour of coverage this year and ended its Saturday telecast with analyst Gene Sarazen congratulating Ben Hogan on his "victory" while some golfers were still on the course. But after NBC signed off, Jack Fleck produced two late birdies to tie Hogan. Fleck won the 18-hole playoff the next day, but NBC elected not to televise any portion of the playoff.

1959 - NBC included entertainer Ed Sullivan on the broadcast crew for this telecast. Sullivan was a member at Winged Foot which hosted the tournament that year. The other members of the NBC team were Chick Hearn, Ray Scott, and Bud Palmer, all of whom worked multiple US Opens during this era.

1962 - NBC added coverage of the Sunday playoff and did the same in 1963.

1965 - The US Open changed to the modern 4-day format with a Sunday finish and NBC provided coverage on both weekend days. NBC also added an hour of coverage for the Monday playoff. NBC televised the 1965 tournament in color which was the first color telecast of any golf major.

1966 - ABC took over the TV rights and expanded the scheduled total weekend coverage to 3.5 hours. ABC installed Chris Schenkel as lead announcer and Byron Nelson as the expert analyst. Jim McKay and Bill Flemming were also part of the telecast team. ABC also provided late afternoon coverage of the
Monday playoff.

1967 - Henry Longhurst and Keith Jackson joined the ABC crew. 

1970 - Dave Marr joined the ABC team and called the first of 22 consecutive US Opens for the network.

1971 - ABC added Frank Gifford to the mix. ABC also added coverage of the Monday playoff.

1973 - ABC used retired LPGA pro Marilynn Smith as a commentator where she worked alongside Gifford. This marked the first time a female had ever served as an announcer on a men's golf telecast. By this time, ABC had cameras to cover the final 13 holes.

1974 - Marr took over as lead analyst and would remain in that role through the 1991 tournament. ABC also used Tony Jacklin as an analyst after he missed the cut.

1975 - McKay took over as lead announcer. ABC also added Peter Alliss to the booth and Bob Rosburg as an on-course reporter. For the first time, ABC used handheld cameras in the fairways. ABC carried 1.5 hours of coverage of the Monday playoff.

1977 - This year saw a milestone event in golf TV history as ABC televised 4 hours on Sunday and covered the leaders for all 18 holes. This was the first time a network had ever provided 18-hole coverage for any round of a golf tournament. ABC used 30 cameras and claimed that this was twice as many as CBS used for the Masters.

1978 - ABC expanded to also televise 4 hours on Saturday for a total of 8 hours.

1982 - ESPN provided 3 hours of coverage each day of the Thursday and Friday rounds. This represented the first cable coverage of the US Open. Jim Simpson (who had worked some of the early US Opens for NBC) anchored the ESPN coverage with Cary Middlecoff, Lou Palmer, and Jim Thacker  forming the rest of its broadcast team. ESPN has covered the first 2 rounds of the US Open ever since. ABC added Jack Whitaker to its crew. During much of the 1980s, ABC would rotate anchors among McKay, Whitaker, and Alliss during each telecast with each calling the action from a monitor.

1983 - Due to rain, the final round did not conclude on Sunday. ABC added coverage of the Monday finish, but did so on tape delay.

1984 - ABC provided 1.5 hours of joined-in-progress coverage of the Monday playoff and would do the same in 1988.

1985 - ABC expanded the weekend coverage to 4.5 hours each day. ABC added Judy Rankin who became the first female on-course reporter for a men's golf telecast.

1986 - Chris Berman hosted the ESPN coverage for the first time and has remained in that role ever since. ABC added Jack Nicklaus as a special commentator and he remained in this role through 1994. Nicklaus was still an active player and would join the weekend telecasts in progress in years when he made the cut.

1990 - Roger Twibell took over as the main ABC anchor. ABC added 1.5 hours of joined-in-progress coverage of the Monday playoff and did the same in 1991.

1992 - Brent Musburger became the main ABC anchor and he remained in this role until ABC lost the TV rights after the 1994 Open.

1993 - ABC used Peter Jacobsen as lead analyst. This was also the final year that McKay called the US Open.

1994 - ABC televised the last of its 29 consecutive US Opens. This was the first year that there was TV coverage of the entire Monday 18-hole playoff as ESPN covered the first 2.5 hours and ABC picked up the rest.

1995 - NBC took over the USGA TV contract and installed Dick Enberg and Johnny Miller in the 18th hole tower. NBC expanded the weekend coverage to 6 hours each day and combined with ESPN to show a total of 25 hours. NBC also added former ABC analyst Marr to its crew and used him through 1997. Other members of that NBC US Open crew included Dan Hicks, Bob Trumpy, Roger Maltbie, John Schroeder, and Dan Pohl. Miller, Hicks, and Maltbie remain to this day.

1996 - NBC added 2 hours of coverage on Thursday and Friday from 3-5pm ET (while ESPN provided coverage both before and after the NBC window). NBC became the first network to carry portions of all 4 rounds of a golf major. NBC has continued this practice in the identical time slot ever since. Gary Koch joined the NBC team.

1998 - NBC added Mark Rolfing to its telecast crew.

2000 - Hicks took over as lead announcer for NBC. Mike Tirico called his first US Open for ESPN.


2001 - ESPN and NBC teamed up to cover the entire Monday 18-hole playoff (and would do the same in 2008).

2003 - Bob Costas worked the tournament in a host role for NBC for the first time.

2005 - NBC added Dottie Pepper to the TV team.

2006 - Both ESPN and NBC broadcast the US Open in HDTV for the first time.

2008 - With the tournament being held at a west coast site, NBC shifted its weekend coverage into the prime time hours. The network would do the same in 2010 and 2012.

2009 - With the tournament impacted by rain, NBC added morning hours on both weekend days. The fourth round concluded on Monday and ESPN came on the air that morning at 9 am ET while NBC picked things up at 11:30 am ET.

2013 - NBC and ESPN plan an unprecedented total of 35 hours of combined live coverage. NBC did a whopping 7.5 hours each weekend day.

2014 - The 20-year run of NBC and the ESPN streak of 33 consecutive years both came to an end after Fox acquired rights to the event starting in 2015. One of the ESPN hours shifted to ESPN2 due to World Cup Soccer coverage.

2015 - Fox carried its first golf major and combined with FS1 to televise a record 38.5 hours. Fox aired prime time coverage during all four rounds. Joe Buck served as the lead announcer with Greg Norman in the #1 analyst position.

2016 - Fox installed Paul Azinger as the lead analyst. After rain cut play short on Thursday, FS1 added several hours of morning coverage on the other three days. Fox/FS1 also added some evening hours on Friday and Saturday.

2019 - On Thursday, in parallel to the regular Fox prime time coverage, FS1 carried three hours of featured group coverage. Fox and FS1 combined for a record 40 hours of scheduled coverage (not counting the parallel hours on Thursday night).

Total scheduled live TV time for the US Open by year

Note: I am not including added coverage (such as playoffs) in these numbers, but I did mention these cases in the above chronology.

1954:            2 hours (NBC)
1955:            1 hour (NBC)
1956-1957:  2 hours (NBC)
1958-1959:  1.5 hours  (NBC)
1960:           1 hour (NBC)
1961-1964:  1.5 hours (NBC)
1965:            3 hours (NBC)

1966-1971:  3.5 hours (ABC)
1972:            5 hours (ABC)
1973:            5.5 hours (ABC)
1974-1976:  5 hours (ABC)
1977:            7 hours (ABC)
1978-1981:  8 hours (ABC)

1982:            14 hours (6 on ESPN, 8 on ABC)
1983-1984:  15 hours (7 on ESPN, 8 on ABC)
1985-1986:  17 hours (8 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1987:            19 hours (10 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1988-1989:  17 hours (8 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1990-1991:  21 hours (12 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)
1992:            22.5 hours (13.5 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)
1993:            23 hours (13 on ESPN, 10 on ABC)
1994:            22 hours (13 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1995:            25 hours (13 on ESPN, 12 on NBC)
1996:            26 hours (11 on ESPN, 15 on NBC)
1997-1998:  27 hours (11 on ESPN, 16 on NBC)
1999-2000:  28 hours (11 on ESPN, 17 on NBC)
2001-2003:  29 hours (12 on ESPN, 17 on NBC)
2004-2006:  31 hours (14 on ESPN, 17 on NBC)
2007-2009:  30 hours (14 on ESPN, 16 on NBC)

2010:            30.5 hours (14 on ESPN, 16.5 on NBC)
2011:            30 hours (14 on ESPN, 16 on NBC)
2012:            32.5 hours (16 on ESPN, 16.5 on NBC)
2013:            35 hours (16 on ESPN, 19 on NBC)
2014:            35 hours (15 on ESPN, 1 on ESPN2, 19 on NBC)

2015:            38.5 hours (16 on FS1, 22.5 on Fox)
2016:            36.5 hours (14 on FS1, 22.5 on Fox)
2017:            38.5 hours (14 on FS1, 24.5 on Fox)
2018:            37 hours (13.5 on FS1, 23.5 on Fox)
2019:            40 hours (14 on FS1, 26 on Fox)