Tom Brady will call his first Super Bowl on Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59. But he has a long way to go if he wants to reach the upper echelon of NFL announcers who have made their mark in being trademark voices of the big game.
Brady will be the 35th individual to step foot in the broadcast booth for a nationally televised Super Bowl broadcast. It may not be as elite of a club as his seven rings, but it’s a pretty special honor nonetheless.
The former Patriots quarterback has a Fox contract that runs for 10 years at $375 million. While Brady has committed publicly to seeing out that contract and staying with Fox for the long haul, there will always be speculation about his status with the network given his ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.
But even if he does serve out the life of the deal, Brady will only call a total of three big games from now until 2034 thanks to a rotation now featuring Fox, NBC, CBS, and ABC/ESPN. That would only put him in a tie for 14th on the all-time list.
Here are the 13 NFL announcers who have called at least five Super Bowls in their television careers that make up American broadcasting royalty.
4 Super Bowls – Ray Scott
Legendary play-by-play man Ray Scott called four of the first eight games for CBS. He also was the voice of the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Twins. That included Super Bowl I which was uniquely broadcast on both CBS and NBC. Scott only called the first half of that game but called the full contest in Super Bowl II, VI, and VIII. His minimalist style would be replicated by announcers for generations, including his former broadcast partner Pat Summerall. We’ll get to Summerall in a few moments.
5 Super Bowls – Frank Gifford, Merlin Olsen, Cris Collinsworth
The list of announcers who called five games spans generations. Frank Gifford went 18 years between being an analyst for Super Bowl I on CBS and calling play-by-play for Super Bowl XIX on ABC. He would then be a part of the famed Monday Night Football trio with Al Michaels and Dan Dierdorf calling even more. Merlin Olsen was NBC’s top NFL analyst for a decade throughout the 1980s calling games with Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg. Cris Collinsworth was a studio analyst for years before transitioning to the broadcast booth, calling title tilts first with Fox and then NBC and working with Joe Buck and Al Michaels. Next year Collinsworth will call his first with Mike Tirico.
6 Super Bowls – Joe Buck, Troy Aikman
The pairing of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman needs no introduction. They have been a top network team for 20 years now, calling their first Super Bowl in 2005 with Collinsworth. Since his departure to NBC, Buck and Aikman continued to call the game for Fox through their own stunning move to ESPN in 2022. After going seven years out of the rotation, they will presumably call the game once again in 2027 for ABC’s first broadcast since 2006.
7 Super Bowls – Curt Gowdy, Jim Nantz
When it comes to generational play-by-play announcers, look no further than the two men who have called seven Super Bowls in Curt Gowdy and Jim Nantz. Gowdy was a mainstay at NBC for many years, calling seven of the first thirteen Super Bowls. In his illustrious career, Gowdy also called numerous Rose Bowls, World Series, Final Fours, and Olympics. Nantz has similarly been as omnipresent broadcaster for CBS, calling The Masters and Final Four for decades. But after serving as NFL Today host for a spell, he entered the broadcast booth in 2004, swapping roles with the late Greg Gumbel. He has been there ever since now partnered with Tony Romo.
8 Super Bowls – Dick Enberg, Phil Simms
The pairing who called eight Super Bowls only worked two together, and never solo. For the call of Super Bowls XXVIII and XXX on NBC, Dick Enberg and Phil Simms were joined by Paul Maguire in a three-man booth. But before and after, both had lengthy runs with other partners. Enberg succeeded Gowdy as NBC’s lead announcer and called games with Merlin Olsen and Bob Trumpy. Phil Simms left NBC with its NFL package in the mid-90s and moved to CBS where he worked with Greg Gumbel and Jim Nantz.
11 Super Bowls – Al Michaels, John Madden
Now we reach the truly elite class of broadcasters to call double-digit Super Bowls. Coming in at eleven is another former pairing in Al Michaels and John Madden. Michaels has one of the lengthiest careers of any announcer, ranging from Super Bowl XXII in 1988 all the way to LVI in 2022. Three of those contests were called alongside John Madden at NBC, including the legendary analyst’s last game at Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 between the Cardinals and Steelers. Michaels also called Super Bowls with Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, and Cris Collinsworth at ABC and NBC. While Madden called multiple Super Bowls with Michaels, he’s remembered more for his work as part of arguably the most iconic broadcast pairing of all time. Speaking of…
13 Super Bowls – Pat Summerall
There is one person who stands alone at the top of Super Bowl announcers, the legendary Pat Summerall. His thirteen-game calls span multiple tenures as a broadcaster and it doesn’t even include his appearance as a sideline reporter for the first one on CBS. First, it was as an analyst working with Ray Scott and Jack Buck in the 1960s and 1970s. When CBS shifted him to the play-by-play chair he formed beloved partnerships first with Tom Brookshier and then with John Madden. That pairing then moved to Fox when they took over NFC rights from CBS in the 1990s.
Summerall and Frank Gifford are the only announcers to call the Super Bowl both as an analyst and play-by-play announcers. His last championship call came in 2002 alongside Madden at Super Bowl XXXVI when the Patriots, and Tom Brady, launched their dynasty.
