Joe Buck seems fine not calling the Super Bowl this year

When Joe Buck left Fox for ESPN last year, that brought with it some pretty significant changes for the longtime broadcaster. Since Fox had the rights to the World Series through 2028 and the next Super Bowl, it means the voice that audiences had gotten used to hearing during those events would no longer be involved.

While Buck has expressed that not calling baseball and the World Series in 2022 felt “really weird,” he doesn’t seem to be too broken up about missing the NFL’s biggest event of the year.

“I’ll watch and root for the guys to do great,” Buck told the NY Post’s Andrew Marchand, who noted that the ESPN announcer will be in Cabo during the big game.

While Buck has called seven Super Bowls and would have hit nine if he was still with Fox through 2025, the 53-year-old doesn’t appear to feel like he’s missed out on a career accomplishment.

“I’m proud of the consistency. But as far as the total number, that’s not anything I will be thinking about when I take my last breath,” said Buck. “I learned that from my dad [Jack Buck] and following his career and learning at a young age that this business is not always fair.

“I was in the right spot at the right time and very lucky that Fox kept getting the rights for not only baseball but obviously football. But it’s not always a reflection of excellence. I think sometimes, it is just being in the right circumstance, which I was at a great place for 20-plus years.”

Buck will be just like the rest of us on Super Bowl Sunday, listening to Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen call their first NFL championship game. And he’ll be doing so from a spot that he’s apparently been wanting to go for a while now.

“I would like to be in Cabo San Lucas with a margarita in my hand and a half-smoked cigar watching Game 7 of the World Series,” Buck said back in May. Well, close enough.

[NY Post]