The NFL Today: How the CBS Sports Juggernaut Overcame Technical Glitches To Redefine Live Studio Programming

The NFL Today: How the CBS Sports Juggernaut Overcame Technical Glitches To Redefine Live Studio Programming One-hour special on Super Bowl Sunday highlights the show's origins, industry impact By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 - 9:00 am

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Nearly 50 years ago, CBS Sports' The NFL Today began in earnest on Sept. 21, 1975. The show's first crew included host and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Brent Musburger, analyst Irv Cross, and reporter and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Phyllis George. Since then, the program has witnessed the meteoric rise of some of CBS Sports', and the industry's, greatest talent, the inclusion of women and people of color on camera when that wasn't the norm, and a dramatic shift in how a live studio show is conducted.

Brent Musburger at The NFL Today's original desk. A one-hour special on CBS prior to Super Bowl LVIII uses mixed-reality technology to re-create it.

On Sunday, Feb. 11 - prior to CBS Sports' presentation of Super Bowl LVIII - the network will air a one-hour special titled YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE! The Show That Changed Sports Television Forever. The special will touch on the strides that The NFL Today has made to diversify and revolutionize the cadence, elements, and look of live studio programming, but the program also set other standards, such as incorporating real-time views of stadiums from around the country. When it came to the learning curve and overcoming possible technical glitches during the early days of live television, Musburger was the right person for the job.

To tell you the truth, technology was not as good as it is today, he says. We worked with 2-in. videotape and didn't have computers, so we had to wing it.

Bob Wussler (grey suit) came up with the concept of the live show.

The show's concept was developed by Robert Wussler, who at 40 years old was CBS Sports' youngest president. Looking to make a major move in the sports-broadcasting industry, he aimed to be one of the first networks to produce a 100%-live pre/postgame and halftime show. At the time, integrating live shots of NFL stadiums - or any sports venue, for that matter - was completely unheard of. Either too risky or too expensive to pull off, it was an endeavor that no other broadcaster even attempted. Wussler had his point guard in Musburger, and he rounded out his lineup with Cross, whom Musburger knew from Cross's days playing football at Northwestern University, and George, who had won the title of Miss America four years earlier.

As a writer, says Musburger, I had absolutely no intention of going into broadcasting, but there was an opening, and [CBS Sports] asked me to audition, and I got the job. I couldn't have asked for better teammates than Irv and Phyllis. I was blessed to be around an outstanding group of people that made the show work.

Bob Fishman directed the show and played a huge role in its success.

After filling out the desk, Wussler looked for behind-the-scenes folks eager for the challenge. At age 27, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Bob Fishman was chosen for the director's chair alongside Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Mike Pearl as producer. The former, a sports-video-production legend, helped establish the live shots that would open every show.

Mike Pearl served as NFL Today producer at the start of his Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame career.

[The idea] actually came from the friend of Bob [Fishman's] father, who liked to bet on totals and over/unders, says Musburger. He wanted to see the weather, so I asked Bob if we could start going live to each of the stadiums. There was a game in November at Soldier Field, and it was just not a good day.

From left: Greg Gumbel, Terry Bradshaw, Lesley Visser, and Pat O'Brien in 1990

More on the show's impact on the sports-betting landscape a bit later. Over the next decade and a half, Musburger, Cross, and George led a show that became one of the most popular ways for NFL fans to start their Sunday. After Musburger departed in 1989, the 1990s were kicked off with Greg Gumbel as the new host, alongside Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Lesley Visser. Gumbel picked up where his old friend from Chicago had left off.

Brent was from the CBS affiliate, WBBM-TV, and I worked at the NBC affiliate, WMAQ-TV, Gumbel recalls. We would run into each other on occasion, and I never dreamed that, down the road, I would be sitting in the chair that he made so famous.

Although Gumbel would return for a second, 2004-05 stint as host, his initial run was cut short when CBS Sports lost NFL rights in 1993. Five years later, the broadcaster under the leadership of Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Sean McManus negotiated a new deal with the league, and The NFL Today was back. When the NFL returned to CBS Sports in 1998, someone else was in the NFL Today host chair: Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Jim Nantz.

On that first day that we returned, says Nantz, it was a magical feeling, being on the air with The NFL Today.

Jim Nantz (left) and Shannon Sharpe during an onsite version of the program

Before becoming a marquee name as play-by-play announcer for the NFL on CBS, the Masters, the NCAA Men's Final Four, and more, the University of Houston graduate had cut his teeth on the live-studio side, moving from college football and college basketball to on-course reporting for golf. Becoming the new face of the show, he recalled his experience when he first auditioned for a role at CBS Sports on Aug. 17, 1985.

When I stepped onto [The NFL Today] set, Nantz says, I saw a piece of masking tape on the back of a chair with the name Brent' written in Sharpie. To this day, I can't believe I got to sit in that chair.

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LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/02/06/the-nfl-today-how-the-cbs-sport...
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