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By Dan Caesar
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/29/2007
Fox, the maverick in sports television, won't be bucking the trend next fall as it did last season when Joe Buck served as its NFL pregame show host and lead play-by-play broadcaster. It was the first time a network television announcer filled both roles simultaneously.
Buck will do only play-by-play next season, as the network will split the duties after incurring higher-than-expected costs for taking "Fox NFL Sunday'' on the road last year. It was conducted at the site of the game Buck was working.
Curt Menefee, who filled in for Buck when he was broadcasting postseason baseball last October and also bridged the gap when Buck had to leave the pregame show set to prepare for the broadcast, will become the host and work from the network's studios in Los Angeles.
The contract Buck signed when he agreed to the double duties called for him to have his choice of jobs if Fox decided to split them. And he said it was an easy decision, because his first love is doing play-by-play and he has become close friends with his broadcast partner, analyst Troy Aikman. Advertisement
He said Fox executives agreed that was the right move.
"That made the decision even easier,'' Buck said Wednesday night. "I wasn't forcing something, it's what everybody wanted.''
He said his relationship with Aikman played a major role in staying in the booth. They've been together since 2002, when they replaced the legendary Pat Summerall-John Madden team.
"I love doing games with him, I value his friendship, he's one of my best friends,'' Buck said. "Our families vacation together, we really enjoy one another and ... I would really hate myself for walking away from that. That was really the decision for me: Do I want to go out to LA every week and be part of the pregame show, or do I want to continue building with Troy to try to get to that level where the class in the history of network television football play-by-play booths is Madden and Summerall. That's what everybody is striving for, that takes decades.''
The pregame program provides more of a forum for individualism, where the focus is on the cast, than being in the booth, where the focus is on the field.
"It's always nice to have a little face time and it's nice to show a different side of yourself, kind of exercise different muscles on the pregame show,'' Buck said. "But really, the fun for me is calling the games."
Buck, who took over on the pregame show after James Brown moved to CBS, said he had a blast filling both roles and would have liked to do it again.
"I didn't feel any more worn out after this year than I typically do,'' he said. "Stress-wise, that was not an issue. But I think there was an underestimating of what kind of a toll it would take on everybody who was used to going to the studio. People say to me, 'How'd you get through the day?' Compared to the people who were lugging all the stuff and setting that stage up every week and dealing with stadiums and their operations departments and trying to worry about crowd control, there were a lot of people who worked a lot longer hours than me.
"I think it was a bigger production than anybody anticipated.''
Buck said David Hill, chairman and CEO of Fox Sports, summed things up: "David said it was a great success for a year, but financially we can't continue to do it on the road. We should all feel good about what we did for a year and we move on.''
Buck added, "I'll miss this, absolutely, because I like challenges.''
dcaesar@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8175
LINK
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/29/2007
Fox, the maverick in sports television, won't be bucking the trend next fall as it did last season when Joe Buck served as its NFL pregame show host and lead play-by-play broadcaster. It was the first time a network television announcer filled both roles simultaneously.
Buck will do only play-by-play next season, as the network will split the duties after incurring higher-than-expected costs for taking "Fox NFL Sunday'' on the road last year. It was conducted at the site of the game Buck was working.
Curt Menefee, who filled in for Buck when he was broadcasting postseason baseball last October and also bridged the gap when Buck had to leave the pregame show set to prepare for the broadcast, will become the host and work from the network's studios in Los Angeles.
The contract Buck signed when he agreed to the double duties called for him to have his choice of jobs if Fox decided to split them. And he said it was an easy decision, because his first love is doing play-by-play and he has become close friends with his broadcast partner, analyst Troy Aikman. Advertisement
He said Fox executives agreed that was the right move.
"That made the decision even easier,'' Buck said Wednesday night. "I wasn't forcing something, it's what everybody wanted.''
He said his relationship with Aikman played a major role in staying in the booth. They've been together since 2002, when they replaced the legendary Pat Summerall-John Madden team.
"I love doing games with him, I value his friendship, he's one of my best friends,'' Buck said. "Our families vacation together, we really enjoy one another and ... I would really hate myself for walking away from that. That was really the decision for me: Do I want to go out to LA every week and be part of the pregame show, or do I want to continue building with Troy to try to get to that level where the class in the history of network television football play-by-play booths is Madden and Summerall. That's what everybody is striving for, that takes decades.''
The pregame program provides more of a forum for individualism, where the focus is on the cast, than being in the booth, where the focus is on the field.
"It's always nice to have a little face time and it's nice to show a different side of yourself, kind of exercise different muscles on the pregame show,'' Buck said. "But really, the fun for me is calling the games."
Buck, who took over on the pregame show after James Brown moved to CBS, said he had a blast filling both roles and would have liked to do it again.
"I didn't feel any more worn out after this year than I typically do,'' he said. "Stress-wise, that was not an issue. But I think there was an underestimating of what kind of a toll it would take on everybody who was used to going to the studio. People say to me, 'How'd you get through the day?' Compared to the people who were lugging all the stuff and setting that stage up every week and dealing with stadiums and their operations departments and trying to worry about crowd control, there were a lot of people who worked a lot longer hours than me.
"I think it was a bigger production than anybody anticipated.''
Buck said David Hill, chairman and CEO of Fox Sports, summed things up: "David said it was a great success for a year, but financially we can't continue to do it on the road. We should all feel good about what we did for a year and we move on.''
Buck added, "I'll miss this, absolutely, because I like challenges.''
dcaesar@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8175
LINK
