The NFL broadcasting musical chairs has finally stopped after a busy offseason.
Several studio shows underwent major upheaval, with Russell Wilson, Mike Tomlin and of course Pat McAfee nabbing top jobs. The top announce teams were slated for a relatively quiet year before multiple contracts come up in 2027, until Netflix locked in its first season-long booth and Tony Romo’s arrest gave CBS Sports a significant shakeup.
Yet within that array of moves, Dan Le Batard sees the same old pattern: White guys getting most of the NFL broadcasting jobs.
“Luke Kuechly is now the up-and-coming broadcasting star that people like. When they look at Tony Romo and they put him on the bench for a while, they replace him with J.J. Watt. Gronk has a job, even though Gronk is a notoriously bad talker,” Le Batard explained Tuesday on The Dan Le Batard Show.
“And I just wonder if you guys notice that the sport is disproportionately Black, and the broadcasters who get hired are disproportionately white, and it’s on purpose … it’s to make it palatable to the broadest section of people.”
Le Batard added that despite the NFL being a majority Black league, executives still heavily favor white former players when they hire for studio shows and announce teams.
“There aren’t that many white stars in football. There are plenty of Black stars,” he said. “Why are the white ones the only ones who get the broadcasting jobs?”
The point holds, but this may not have been the best time to make it. The NFL Today on CBS brought aboard Wilson, while Tomlin will be the new face of NBC’s Football Night In America. While McAfee’s arrival will get attention on Monday Night Countdown, the new face of ESPN joins a show filled out by Jason McCourty, Marcus Spears and Jason Kelce.
Among announce teams, the disparity is more pronounced.
“It’s always J.J. Watt, it’s always Luke Kuechly, as if there aren’t a bunch of Jonathan Vilmas out there that are available,” Le Batard said.
Indeed, even when industry insiders speculate about future candidates to call games, it typically is a list of the most telegenic white guys in the league. The inner circle currently consists of Travis Kelce, Sean McVay and someone like Kirk Cousins or Matthew Stafford. Even as networks have been less insistent on having quarterbacks in the booth, it has leaned toward white stars like Watt, Kuechly, Jason Kelce, and Greg Olsen.
In response, Le Batard Show cohost Jonathan Zaslow noted that many Black former stars have blown up online hosting podcasts. Le Batard believes that only further proves his point.
“They have to do it themselves because the mainstream’s not actually hiring them,” he said.
While the perception may be that white commentators are more “palatable” for a league that is trying to appeal to all types of Americans, some of the NFL’s most successful broadcasters and most popular players these days are Black men who are clearly bucking the trend Le Batard claims is as strong as ever.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is an Editorial Lead at Awful Announcing overseeing digital content and special projects. He lives in Phoenix and has covered sports media for Awful Announcing since 2023.