Like many American boys growing up in the 1960s, I watched NFL football on TV. Back then, the games were in black and white, and the cameras pretty much followed one play, then followed the huddle, then followed the next play.
The announcing was also pretty simple. Sometimes it was one guy, who rambled like a metronome:
ANNOUNCER 1: “Jackson passes to Smith, who is tackled at the 46, gain of eight.”
On bigger, national games, you got a second announcer. Of course, this made the broadcast sound much different:
ANNOUNCER 1: “Jackson passes to Smith, who is tackled at the 46, gain of eight.”
ANNOUNCER 2: “That was a nice pass, Jim.”
ANNOUNCER 1: “It sure was, Tim.”
Back then, announcers weren’t specialists. They weren’t labeled “play by play” or “analyst.” They were just two guys telling you what you were seeing, and you certainly didn’t think one was worth way more than the other.
Times have changed.
Today the position of “NFL Announcer” is as coveted as “A.I. Founder.” And it often pays the same. You have a landscape of high profile, former star players like Tom Brady, J.J. Watt, Cris Collinsworth and Troy Aikman behind the microphones. Their salaries to talk often exceed what they once got paid to get the snot kicked out of them on the field.
Aikman, with ESPN, makes $18 million a year, more than he ever earned for a season with the Cowboys. Collinsworth, with NBC, gets paid $12.5 million a year, more than three times what he made his entire playing career. Brady, with FOX, makes $37.5 million per season, on a 10-year deal worth $375 million – that he signed when he was still a player!
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This, remember, is for talking about one football game per week, for maybe 20 weeks a year.
Who knew taking a seat could be that comfortable?
How did we get here?
The football announcer job was in the news this week because Aikman, who holds the coveted “Monday Night Football” analyst seat, is reportedly upset that his broadcast partner of 25 years, Joe Buck, the “play by play” man, signed a new nine-figure deal to stay with ESPN, while Aikman has not.
In the TV world, that’s like Robin buying a fancy new Batmobile before asking Batman.
Reportedly, tensions have flared. There were whispers of a heated argument between the two before a game a few weeks ago.
Some giddy gossip types only watched last week’s “Monday Night Football” game hoping to see some on-air friction between Aikman and Buck. (Sorry to disappoint, they acted like pros.)
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Now, I happen to know both guys. I like them a lot. They are sharp, intelligent, affable men, and they deserve every penny they get, because networks are willing to give it to them, and that – rather than morality or societal contribution – determines salary range. Otherwise, school teachers and cancer surgeons would be paid far more than late-night TV sidekicks.
But the question worth pondering is how did a job that once seemed so innocuous turn into one of international headlines?
In fairness, the announcer gig has changed. Or at least the words have. Football has now gone from:
ANNOUNCER 1: “Jackson passes to Smith who is tackled at the 46.”
To this:
PLAY BY PLAY: “Jackson passes to Smith who is tackled at the 46.”
ANALYST: “You see what happened here: the safety dropped off Smith as he split the seam, fooling the linebacker just enough to give Jackson the window to lay it in there. Back when I playing, we called that the ‘Stop Drop Python’.”
PLAY BY PLAY: “That was a nice pass, Jim.
ANALYST: “It sure was, Tim.”
The times, they are a-changing
Still, the question “When did THAT job become THAT important?” is hardly limited to football announcing.
Let's face it. Less than 20 years ago, a "social media director" for a big corporation ranked just to the north of urinal attendant. Today, those jobs start at six figures.
The social media ones. Not the urinal ones.
Years ago, people stood in a department stores and sprayed perfume, while telling customers how they “loved it so much, I wear it myself.” It was a minimum wage job.
Today, “influencers” do the same thing over the internet, and make millions.
Not long ago, the guy in the kitchen was called a “cook,” and the restaurant was all about the owner and the customers. Today, the cook is a “chef,” the chef is a rock star, and the restaurant is a place where you’re lucky to get in.
It only goes to show you, if your job is touched by celebrity, ratings, social media influence or national infatuation, you never know how far it may take you.
Even if it really just was a nice pass, Jim.
Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow @mitchalbom on x.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mitch Albom: When did football analysts become rock stars?