Tom Brady preps for Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast knowing he’s not yet a ‘finished product’
Brady is set to call his first Super Bowl for Fox, and thinks he and his Fox Sports colleagues are hitting their stride when it counts the most.
NEW ORLEANS — Patrick Mahomes. Jalen Hurts. Saquon Barkley. Travis Kelce. While there will be a lot of star power on the field Sunday when the Eagles take on the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, much of the attention will be focused on a former player in the broadcast booth.
That’s where future Hall of Famer Tom Brady will be seated as he prepares to cap his first season with Fox by calling Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
A lot has been made about Brady’s performance this season, especially in an age when everyone is a critic on social media. While Brady admits he’s hasn’t been perfect, he thinks he and the entire Fox broadcast team are hitting their stride heading into Sunday’s game.
“I understand I’m a long ways from being a finished product as a broadcaster,” Brady said Wednesday in a call with reporters.
Brady said he’s made “plenty” of mistakes this season, from mispronouncing players’ names to screwing up the analysis of certain plays. But he also said he’s tried to learn from every one of them, which he thinks is the only way you can approach being an announcer. He also said he sought advice from just about every NFL announcer you can think of, including Tony Romo, Cris Collinsworth, Troy Aikman, Al Michaels, and even Greg Olsen, who got bumped down to Fox’s No. 2 broadcast team when Brady took the job.
“When you step into this role, like we have as a crew, and you embrace the uncertainty of it, the only thing you can do is prepare yourself knowing you’re going to wish you did some things over. … I’ve really enjoyed the learning curve,” Brady said. “Hopefully this is our best game yet.”
In many ways, Brady’s performance this season will be an afterthought once the Super Bowl is underway. More than 120 million viewers are expected to watch the big game, which will dwarf the 44 million who tuned into the NFC championship game between the Eagles and Washington Commanders. For better or worse, the impression fans have of Brady the broadcaster will largely come from how well he performs Sunday.
So how will Brady judge whether he called a good Super Bowl?
“Ultimately two things,” Brady said. “Was I very confident in what I said, and did I really enjoy myself?”
Sitting next to him in the booth will be Kevin Burkhardt, who will be calling his second Super Bowl for Fox after replacing Joe Buck, who jumped ship with Troy Aikman over to ESPN in 2022.
Eagles fans will likely remember it was Burkhardt in the booth in 2023 alongside Olsen when the Eagles narrowly lost to the Chiefs in Arizona. So what has Burkhardt thought of Brady’s growth as a broadcaster?
“I think it’s been awesome,” Burkhardt said. “I’m really proud of where we are and how we’ve grown — I think we’ve come a long way as a group. And it just takes time.”
“Luckily for us, the Super Bowl is played at the end of the season,” Burkhardt added. “It’s not like NASCAR, where Daytona is Week 1.”
Being around superstar athletes is nothing new for Burkhardt. During the MLB playoffs he hosts Fox’s studio show alongside Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and David Ortiz. But that doesn’t mean it’s business as usual for Fox’s top NFL play-by-play announcer.
“It’s definitely different,” Burkhardt joked. “Just put it this way, I wasn’t being followed around by people taking pictures going to dinner before.”
Brady has the added complication of also being a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, which puts certain limitations on his access and his ability to criticize teams or officials. Those limitations have been lifted this week, allowing Brady to meet with players and teams ahead of the Super Bowl, but don’t expect him to suddenly be overly critical of the referees or anybody else.
“You don’t want to go on air and be overly critical, because it’s not fun for the viewer,” Brady said. “I don’t think to take a negative critique is the way I view the game. We’re viewing athletes at the highest level of what they do. You’re never really insulting the player. You’re insulting the play or the decision.”
Still, Brady was vague when asked about his exact role with the Raiders and their decision to hire coach Pete Carroll and former Eagles head coach Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator.
“I think my ownership interest in the Raiders is just much more of a long-term, kind of behind-the-scenes-type role,” Brady said, adding that he is there to “support the team and the leadership and the overall vision for success.”
The 47-year-old Brady’s contract with Fox is for 10 years, and while there’s been speculation his focus might shift more to the Raiders, his plan at the moment is to stick around at Fox for the immediate future, and possibly beyond.
“It’s just been an awesome journey these last 18 months,” Brady said. “I know I got another nine years to go, and hopefully more.”