Terry Bradshaw isn’t looking over his shoulder as Tom Brady gets set to join Fox in 2024, but he’s willing to do just about anything to prove he’s still a ratings asset.
Bradshaw spoke with reporters on Tuesday as part of Fox Sports Media Day, and the 74-year-old said he has no plans of retiring anytime soon, and instead shared his dream of dying at Fox. And not just dying while he’s still a Fox personality, Bradshaw envisions literally dying on-air, for ratings purposes.
Terry Bradshaw, national treasure, with thoughts on his career, mortality, etc.: “I told Fox, if I could just die on the show — think about the ratings, right? I mean, are we not about ratings? That’d be huge. Not only that, it’d be a huge carry-over. …” pic.twitter.com/SHNwLHPpU7
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) February 7, 2023
“I told Fox, if I could just die on the show, think about the ratings, right? Are we not about ratings?” he asked. “That’d be huge. Not only that, it’d be a huge carryover. Then all the networks would be saying ‘Bradshaw died on the Fox NFL Sunday.’ Can you imagine? Huge stuff. And maybe I’d get a statue out front because I don’t have a statue yet.”
“I love what I’m doing. But we all get old,” Bradshaw continued. “We’re gonna get kicked out. I’m not looking over my shoulder, but Brady is coming in – for $37.5 million.”
Knowing he could potentially get kicked off Fox NFL Sunday by Brady or another younger personality, Bradshaw attempted to remind network higher-ups about the benefits of keeping an aging broadcaster, like the potential to see them croak on live TV. But after nearly three decades with Fox, Bradshaw doesn’t sound like someone who’s going to use free will to step away from his post in the studio.
“What would happen with the studio?” Bradshaw asked about the prospect of retiring. “Who would take my place? That’s not ever going to happen.”
As Bradshaw initially alluded to, Brady can take his place. If Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen use Brady’s gap year to prove further they deserve to remain the lead NFL broadcast crew for Fox, maybe putting Brady in the studio is the ultimate answer. But one thing Bradshaw has going for him is Fox doesn’t need to take someone out of the studio before they’re willing to put a new personality in it. Fox won’t shy away from putting six or seven people on their NFL pregame show, so they can always just tack Brady on, giving Bradshaw the opportunity to live out his dream of dying on-air.
