Is NBC trying to send a message to its wonky satellite NFL studio?
For many years, the trio of Jac Collinsworth, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison, have traveled on-site each week to the stadium hosting Sunday Night Football to provide pregame analysis for the Football Night in America studio show. The setup has always been bizarre. NBC will bounce back and forth between its in-studio team in Stamford, CT and its on-field team at the game. The result has been a show that can often feel disjointed, with two sets of hosts and analysts vying for limited time on-air.
That separation will continue on Super Bowl Sunday. But instead of sending Collinsworth, Dungy, and Harrison to Levi’s Stadium, NBC is sending them to prison. Well, a former prison.
NBC announced on Monday that the trio will host Super Bowl pregame coverage live from Alcatraz Island beginning at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. “Coverage will feature a look at the island’s historic significance as a military base, prison, and seabird conservation site, as well as the 19-month occupation by Native Americans in support of freedom and civil rights,” the network wrote in a press release.
It’s an interesting editorial decision from NBC. There are no shortage of historical sights in San Francisco to use as a backdrop, but Alcatraz Island is iconic. Last year, Fox had its Super Bowl pregame show posted up on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, so it’s not out of the ordinary for networks to use famous areas of the host city during studio coverage. You have to fill a full day’s worth of pregame coverage somehow. Alcatraz won’t have quite the atmosphere as Bourbon Street, but it’ll have plenty of history.
Unfortunately for Collinsworth, Dungy, and Harrison, the jokes write themselves. Those that would prefer not to hear from the trio will surely call for them to remain on Alcatraz indefinitely.
The remainder of the Football Night in America crew will be on-site in Santa Clara, including host Maria Taylor, analysts Jason Garrett, Devin McCourty, and Chris Simms, insider Mike Florio, and NBC News’ Steve Kornacki. Fantasy football expert Matthew Berry will also make his Super Bowl debut.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.