The Divisional Round announcer assignments are out for each of the 4 games
The NFL is down to 8 teams and there will be 4 games this weekend. That means the top announce teams will be working while others are home having finished their assignments.
Saturday, January 22
Cincinnati Bengals at Tennessee Titans on CBS (4:30 p.m. ET): Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn
San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers on FOX (8:15 p.m. ET): Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi
Sunday, January 23
Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers on NBC (3 p.m. ET): Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michelle Tafoya, Kathryn Tappen
Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs on CBS (6:30 p.m.) Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson, Jay Feely
There weren’t any fans in the stands, but Bill Raftery and his CBS co-workers brought the energy with these calls.
Without any fans in the stands, the early games of the NCAA Tournament have lacked a certain energy. We’ve seen buzzer beaters and upsets, but without an audience to erupt in excitement, it just hasn’t been the same viewing experience.
Because of that, there’s even more pressure on CBS’s commentators to fill in the gaps and try to add some energy to the broadcasts. Luckily for college basketball fans, we had some excitable announcers calling the games on Friday.
Jim Nantz, Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Kevin Harlan and others provided us with plenty of energy throughout the day. To celebrate that, we’ve picked out the 10 best calls of the day…
How could CBS signing Ian Eagle to a long-term contract impact its negotiations with Jim Nantz?
CBS has signed Ian Eagle, the voice on their No. 2 NFL announce team to a long-term contract. The move, which is far from a surprise, could have an impact in how another set of negotiations goes for the network.
By locking up Eagle, per a New York Post report, CBS has given itself leverage in upcoming negotiations with No. 1 voice Jim Nantz.
Nantz’ broadcast partner on NFL games, former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo, landed a 10-season $180M deal prior to this season.
Nantz currently earns $6.5 million per year. With a schedule that includes the Super Bowl, the Masters and the Final Four over the next three months, he wants to be paid akin to Romo. While he may want “Romo money,” he will have to create “Romo leverage.”
… CBS executives realize that they own the events Nantz wants to broadcast, specifically the network’s vast golf offerings. This might be their greatest leverage.
Still, there has been a money wedge between CBS and Nantz. Nantz has made it clear he wants to be paid as much as Romo, feeling as if he works much more and has been the face of the network for decades.
Eagle will do pregame studio work for Super Bowl LV. The exact terms of Eagle’s new deal are not known, but it is said to be longer than a standard three-year contract.
Could the NFL keep some of the ingenious graphics used by the children’s television station, Nickelodeon?
This afternoons NFL Wildcard game that featured the New Orlean Saints and Chicago Bears broke a barrier of sorts due to their broadcast on Nickelodeon. It was the first of what I expect to be many of, a potential game-changing event for the future of football games on television.
Their broadcast team consisted of four members: former NFL star Nate Burleson, Noah Eagle (son of megabroadcaster Ian) and Nickelodeon star Gabrielle Neveah Green in the booth with Nick star Lex Lumpkin on the sidelines. It wasn’t about this, although it was interesting to hear child stars making their NFL debuts. The game changing aspect was how the children’s station showed some of their graphics.
This was probably the most important one of them all, giving the NFL plenty of marketing ideas for their future games. Keep in mind that previously the NFL has had advertisements on the netting during field goals, but nothing like what Nick did. Imagine the NFL changing out Sponge Bob for a beer sponsor.
At the end of the day, the NFL’s bottom line is about making money and this surely planted at least a semblance of an idea in their heads. That wasn’t all Nick did, the slimezone was a unique added function as well.
We might have just seen history today with this broadcast. Not just in the NFL but at the collegiate level as well. Hat’s off the Nickelodeon and their ingenuity for bringing these elements to an NFL game.
CBS analyst Ian Eagle recently shared his view on how the Boston Celtics did in 2019-20, and what he expect to see from them next season.
CBS Sports analysts Ian Eagle may broadcast games for the Brooklyn Nets, but he likes what he sees up Interstate 95 in Boston with the Celtics.
With the team he covers poised to enter the contention window next season after stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving returning from significant injury, he expects to find Boston in the mix as well, as he revealed in a recent talk with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson in a recent episode of the “Heavy Live with Scoop B” podcast.
And while the 2019-20 season didn’t necessarily end the way Celtics fans had hoped, Eagle doesn’t see it as a failure of any sort.
“But, with Kemba Walker in his first year, with [Jayson] Tatum, with [Jaylen] Brown developing; with extenuating circumstances of the bubble not knowing how guys are going to react and handle that, with the [Gordon] Hayward injury; they ended up where I thought they were going to be.”
“That’s pretty much how I saw them this season as a conference semi-finalist,” he added.
For Eagle, a frontcourt upgrade is in order for Boston to maximize their postseason odds.
“I like their team, there’s still some places they need to improve … that one spot, the 5-spot … how are they going to play? What’s their style? Are they looking traditional or are they going to change it up a bit and look to maybe getting a little smaller and a little more athletic in that position?”
“That remains to be seen,” observed Eagle.
With the league’s moratorium set to expire soon after the 2020 NBA draft on November 18th, we still have a bit before the Celtics can begin their moves to whip the roster into something more reasonably resembling a contender.
But the wait shouldn’t be a long one — particularly if the league does return to action by its hoped-for Christmas week start date.
Ian Eagle, Sarah Kustok and the rest of YES Network’s team for Brooklyn Nets games have been ranked the No. 1 local NBA broadcast.
While it’s always a big deal for any team to have a nationally televised game, Brooklyn Nets fans don’t need their team to be on ESPN or TNT to get a top-flight broadcast.
Whether it’s Ian Eagle or Ryan Ruocco on play-by-play, YES Network always has a compelling voice to take fans through the big moments.
Then there’s Sarah Kustok and Richard Jefferson, who provide great insight and offer additional entertainment as solo analysts, but also manage to kick things up a notch when they’re working side-by-side as part of a three-announcer show.
Of course, Michael Grady is courtside, as well. But for the sake of Awful Announcing’s 2019-20 local NBA announcer rankings, courtside reporters were not factored in.
After tallying the votes from readers, Awful Announcing listed the team of announcers on YES’s broadcast of Nets games as the top NBA local broadcast.
Voters were able to give letter grades from A to F. The YES team’s most popular grade was an A (72.73%), edging out the New York Knicks’ broadcast team by 2.58%.
