Netflix is looking to make a huge splash when it broadcasts an NFL doubleheader on Christmas.
That includes who is calling those games in the broadcast booth.
Earlier this year, Netflix announced a three-year deal with the league to broadcast Christmas Day games. While the NFL will play at least one game on Christmas Day in 2025 and 2026, they had previously announced plans to play two games on Christmas Day in 2024 as the holiday falls on a Wednesday.
CBS Sports will be producing the games (Ravens-Texans and Steelers-Chiefs) but that doesn’t preclude Netflix from bringing in broadcasters from other networks. They’d already announced NFL Network’s Rich Eisen will host studio programming that day.
Now, the NY Post’s Ryan Glasspiegel is reporting that Netflix asked Fox Sports if they could poach Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt to call one of the Christmas games. Fox rejected that request, per Glasspiegel.
Fox has several games on its Sunday slate that week, including the Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles in the afternoon window. There was little chance they’d let their marquee broadcasting team call a game for another broadcaster within days of that.
However, Glasspiegel is reporting that Netflix is targeting Ian Eagle, Noah Eagle, Greg Olsen, and Nate Burleson and that Fox is “contemplating” the arrangement for Olsen, per a source.
Ian Eagle and Burleson both work for CBS Sports, which makes them more obvious candidates. Noah Eagle currently calls Big Ten and NFL games for NBC Sports, though he (and Burleson) previously called NFL games on CBS-owned Nickelodeon.
Considering both CBS and Fox have NFL games on the Sundays before and after Christmas, it doesn’t seem like the smartest thing on paper to let their top broadcasters call games for another broadcaster that week. But perhaps there’s some kind of behind-the-scenes negotiation that helps sweeten the deal for them.
For Olsen, it could be seen as a consolation prize for being moved off Fox’s top team for Brady. If nothing else, Netflix getting him over Brady could lead to a ton of thinkpieces about how, in the end, they got the better broadcaster…
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.