Joe Buck hasn’t called a Super Bowl since 2020 for Fox, and he’s getting excited to do it again when ESPN joins the rotation in 2027.
Buck joined Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take with hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter (Eric Sollenberger) this week to discuss the start of the NFL season. And during the interview, PFT asked Buck whether he misses calling the Super Bowl.
Initially, Buck said “no,” feeling the event is too big to want to call it every year, but ESPN’s Monday Night Football voice quickly pivoted to express his excitement in getting to call a Super Bowl again in 2027.
“When we were doing it on a regular basis, we were doing it every three years. And it felt like every three years was about the right pace to that because it is big,” Buck said. “I can’t wait to do it next year. We’re doing it next year at ABC/ESPN…it’s going to be the biggest day in ESPN history, I think, with what’s on the line.
“To get back into that rotation for Troy and me. There’s no day like it. And in broadcasting, to talk into a microphone and know there’s that many people on the other end – 94 percent of which are not listening to one word you’re saying, they want to watch the commercials and see if their bet worked – but it’s really cool.”
Joe Buck might be exaggerating that estimation just a bit. There are a lot of viewers who are in it for the commercials and bets. But make no mistake, much more than six percent of every Super Bowl audience is invested in what the announcer has to say.
2027 will be ABC’s first Super Bowl broadcast since 2006, and it will be the first-ever Super Bowl for ESPN. Buck’s statement that this will be the biggest day in ESPN is not an exaggeration. When the Worldwide Leader in Sports gets to host the biggest sporting event in American sports, it undoubtedly will be a historic occasion for the brand.
ESPN is spending years preparing for its first Super Bowl. And luring Buck and Aikman away from Fox in 2022 was all part of its plan to make sure the Super Bowl feels as big as it is. When Buck and Aikman left Fox for ESPN, 2027 still seemed like a long way off. Now just a season away, it won’t be long before the longest tenured broadcast crew in NFL history gets to call the sport’s biggest game again on what might be the biggest day in ESPN history.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com