Fire alarms have interrupted many notable events over the years, sometimes even including sports broadcasts. The latest case of this was on The Golazo Show‘s UEFA Europa League coverage on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network Thursday. There, while the broadcast continued providing its usual whiparound video coverage, it was without the usual commentary from host Nico Cantor and analysts Charlie Davies, Tony Meola, and Chris Wittyngham for about 20 minutes. As Cantor relayed both on Twitter and then on broadcast when he was able to return to the studio, that was due to a fire alarm:
Hey guys, if you noticed we’re not on commentary on Golazo Show right now it’s because a fire alarm has gone off in the building.
Here we are huddled around our phone in the freezing cold so we don’t skip a beat when we get back!
🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🚨🚨🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/O9jNHmuVdZ
— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) November 30, 2023
Here’s video of the return, and of Cantor discussing one particularly special goal they missed from Marseille FC’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang:
Here's how @Nicocantor1 brought The Golazo Show back after the commentators were off-air for 20 minutes due to a fire alarm. "We had just stepped out because there was a fire alarm in our building. But The Golazo Show does not stop." pic.twitter.com/7ikfHKRRS6
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 1, 2023
There, Cantor says “We had just stepped out because there was a fire alarm in our building. But The Golazo Show does not stop. We were outside in the cold, watching on our phones, as you guys probably are. But we are back to watch some more golazos.”
“And when we left the building, at Marseille, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored an absolute golazo, our golazo of the day nonetheless. I was walking out of the studio, and I just saw Aubameyang hitting a bicycle kick.”
“We haven’t been here in a while, we probably missed a goal or two as we were running down the stairs because of the fire alarm. But Marseille, as it stands, is going through to the next round, a next round.”
Here’s the Aubameyang goal they missed, and how this looked with only the actual broadcasts’ commentary, and no studio throw between one game and the next:
And here's how this broadcast looked without the usual commentators, including for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's bicycle kick goal: pic.twitter.com/H4xBq26I9K
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 1, 2023
This is the second whiparound show disrupted by a fire alarm this week, with that also happening with NFL RedZone this weekend. That was a shorter disruption, with host Scott Hanson announcing they were cleared to return after only a few minutes. But it was an even more noticeable one for viewers, with the alarm sounds caught on the air.
In the last couple of years, we’ve also seen fire alarms disrupt a Toronto Blue Jays radio broadcast, a Philadelphia radio studio show, a Miami-Florida State NCAA baseball broadcast, and the ManningCast NFL alternate broadcast. So this is far from the only time this has happened. But it was certainly notable to see, and led to quite an unusual moment for these show figures. Cantor rolled with it well, though, and helped show why The Golazo Show has become a big part of CBS’ soccer strategy.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter; H/T to Chris Dobbertean on Bluesky; photo from Nico Cantor on Twitter]
