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Greg Gumbel has been an NFL announcer for quite some time, but he doesn’t believe people in his position move the needle.
During a recent appearance on the Sports Illustrated media podcast, Gumbel was asked about broadcasters such as Joe Buck and Al Michaels getting gobs of money to call games, considering he was the top-team, play-by-play guy for CBS 20 years ago.
“I will tell you, it has gotten crazy. I don’t have any need to be jealous of it. I’ve been treated really nicely and have always been appreciative of what I’ve been able to do for a long, long time,” Gumbel said.
“So I think that doesn’t apply to me. What does tickle my thought process is, I’ve never felt in my entire life there is an announcer who can bring someone to the TV set to watch a game that that viewer wasn’t already going to watch. And I believe the only thing a broadcaster can do is chase people away.”
Although no announcers are magnets, some are repellants for him.
“I know this for a fact because — I won’t name them — but there are three or four announcers, ‘Oh, I’m really interested in watching, oops, nope, click, gone.’ I truly believe that. I don’t think that someone is tuning in just to hear a particular person call a football game,” Gumbel said.
Gumbel also notes how great announcers are elevated by the stellar games they’re assigned.
“There are some other things that happened, too. The games that the people who are making this money are calling are really good games. People have said to me, ‘Oh, Al [Michaels] and Cris [Collinsworth] did a great job on Sunday night.’ Yeah, they always do a great job. However, they do the best game of the week,” he said.
“All the way back to the days of Pat Summerall and John Madden. Pat and John were terrific. I wanted to pattern myself after Pat Summerall. He didn’t overtalk. He was understated. He was specific about the things that he said. And they were terrific. But how can you not be terrific when you’re doing Giants-Cowboys, Bears-Packers, Rams-49ers, Eagles-Giants?
“Moe, Larry and Curly—no offense to anyone calling games—Moe, Larry and Curly can do a good football game.”
Much like the wild moves taking over NFL free agency this offseason, Buck and Michaels are among the biggest broadcasters scoring new deals at different networks.
Buck left Fox for ESPN last month, inking a five-year deal in the $60-$75 million range to join his former teammate, Troy Aikman, in the “Monday Night Football” booth. Michaels, meanwhile, will be leaping to Amazon from NBC Sports, where he’ll be calling “Thursday Night Football” this fall, The Post’s Andrew Marchand previously reported.
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