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The Great NFL Heist: How Fox Paid for and Changed Football Forever

Featured Replies

2 hours ago, TexasMan said:

I will not have any Don Criqui or Bob Trumpy slander here. 

LMAO!   Ok I forgot about those two.

NBC did baseball right back then.   I've always hated Fox's baseball coverage.  

2 hours ago, Underdog said:

Nothing tops the opening theme to the NFL Today back then. 

“You are looking live...”

YES!    This....

I always looked forward to 11 AM on Sunday when Brent Musburger started the broadcast with those words.  

 

That was a great read. CBS wouldn't spend $295 mil in '93 (not that it would've mattered given Murdoch's $400 mil bid) and in turn spent $500 mil 2 years later for a lesser product (AFC). 

1 hour ago, Rimbo said:

There are CBS affiliates that switched to Fox over this. Brilliant move by Murdoch that made Fox a player and not forever on the outside looking in.

I believe that is what happened in Austin. CBS was on channel 7. 

4 hours ago, Underdog said:

Nothing tops the opening theme to the NFL Today back then. 

“You are looking live...”

 

This has to be the best from the CBS 80's era.  Some Rocky IV workout medley. 

 

Danm it.  Brings back memories.    CBS was just badass back then.

Edited by Nueces River Rat

  • Author
1 hour ago, Deej said:

I believe that is what happened in Austin. CBS was on channel 7. 

I vaguely remember that happening.

I thought that was before that...or after...

KTBC was a CBS affiliate from 1952-1995.  It is also the first TV station in Austin and the only VHF.  KEYE was the fox affiliate until 1995.  Now it’s CBS.

 

Great read. The Fox theme sprouting from a version of batman having a football team makes sense.

Why do college games on FS1 suck so much? Whenever I see a game on there, I cringe.

1 hour ago, relapse98 said:

Why do college games on FS1 suck so much? Whenever I see a game on there, I cringe.

Mostly cuz their broadcast teams suck.

I haven't watched a MNF intro in a while but they stopped doing the helmets colliding, right?  I always loved that as a kid.

Loved this game intro, especially there at the “gunsmoke” comment...  Damn, you just knew it was big time. 

 

12 hours ago, TexasMan said:

I will not have any Don Criqui or Bob Trumpy slander here. 

How about Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy?  Check out 3:30 for the Miracle at the Meadowlands and 4:09 for both Criqui and Trumpy.  I couldn't find one of the threesome doing a Miami v. Nebraska Orange Bowl, tho.

"During his tenure at NBC, Criqui called 14 Orange Bowl games. Criqui's most memorable call was the 1984 Orange Bowl between undefeated Nebraska and Miami. Nebraska was on a 22-game winning streak coming into the game, but lost to Miami 31–30 when the Cornhuskers failed on a two-point conversion attempt which would have won the game. "

 

Edited by Bullneck

11 hours ago, relapse98 said:

Why do college games on FS1 suck so much? Whenever I see a game on there, I cringe.

 

9 hours ago, TrashMaster G said:

Mostly cuz their broadcast teams suck.

Troof. But also, the ESPN sideline and video people are better and a lot more polite. Whenever I work a game, the ESPN people are professional and competent. The FOX guys are always running through shouting "Get out of the way!" cause they aren't competent enough to get to their locations on time. Their audio guys also will walk directly in front of photographers and just stand there blocking the field. The Fox video people are assholes. 

16 hours ago, Bullneck said:

How about Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy?  Check out 3:30 for the Miracle at the Meadowlands and 4:09 for both Criqui and Trumpy.  I couldn't find one of the threesome doing a Miami v. Nebraska Orange Bowl, tho.

"During his tenure at NBC, Criqui called 14 Orange Bowl games. Criqui's most memorable call was the 1984 Orange Bowl between undefeated Nebraska and Miami. Nebraska was on a 22-game winning streak coming into the game, but lost to Miami 31–30 when the Cornhuskers failed on a two-point conversion attempt which would have won the game. "

 

Ah man, Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy seem to have always called Houston Oilers games.

 

That was a good read except for the Joe Buck parts.

C_ZocJbXkAAMXrZ.jpg:large

Loved this game intro, especially there at the “gunsmoke” comment...  Damn, you just knew it was big time. 
 


I don’t remember that game nearly as much as the 92 NFC championship, but I just lol’d at the soundtrack from “Hook” playing in the background of Pat Sumerall’s intro.
On 12/18/2018 at 4:34 PM, Underdog said:

Loved this game intro, especially there at the “gunsmoke” comment...  Damn, you just knew it was big time. 

 

 

What a blast from the past. 

Anyone else notice the music from ‘Hook’ in the intro?

CBS theme, Dallas vs. San Fran, Playoff rematches, Hook , Robin Williams....

My, my childhood. It’s all coming back to me.....

 

Edit: Well, I guess Rusty did.

 

Fun fact about Hook. Robin Williams donated his entire body hair to locks of love’s lesser known division, merkins of mirth. 

Edited by Dnaguy
I don’t read all the comments before commenting. I’m lazy,

CBS was in a tough spot.  They didn’t believe that the NFL was as important as it was, and the entire industry had become complacent about the 3 network “monopoly.”    The bean counters wanted the nfl coverage to make a profit.  They obviously screwed up.    Fox was smart.  Don’t just try to come in with a 5-10% bump over CBS. That may not be worth taking a risk for the nfl.    Come over the top with a >50% increase over cbs and dare the nfl to reject it.

Of course both networks had different goals.  Fox wanted a seat at the table and that was going to cost them.  CBS had the seat and didn’t understand the value of the nfl.    Then they felt they had to overpay later for the afc.

i did love the story how once cbs lost the nfc coverage, they made some noise about immediately bidding for the afc.  Nfl shut them down and told them the rules for them was bidding on one package only and they lost.

On 12/18/2018 at 9:33 AM, Underdog said:

Nothing tops the opening theme to the NFL Today back then. 

“You are looking live...”

That and the NBA on CBS theme from the 80's.

The MNF theme song of the late 70s got me so fired up I put my elbow through a window while diving over the couch.  I managed to hide it from my Dad for weeks and then convince him I had nothing to do with it even though the shards landing out clearly pointed to an inside job.  I think I'm going to go find that on youtube to get fired up before my next big meeting.

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 10:33 AM, Deej said:

WIth RedZone, who is still watching network broadcasts? 

millions and millions and millions of people

7 minutes ago, hookem48 said:

millions and millions and millions of people

They're doing it wrong.

On 12/18/2018 at 2:28 PM, relapse98 said:

Why do college games on FS1 suck so much? Whenever I see a game on there, I cringe.

I don't think most of the games are that bad, as some have mentioned, if better play by play folks are added, it could rival ESPN...

On 12/17/2018 at 8:13 PM, pops said:

Best thing fox ever did was put the tracer on the puck in hockey. I think it should come back. 

Good article. Thanks. Way to go Murdoch and Fox. Fuck CBS.

re hockey: pretty cool.

 

Edited by Irish Wrist Watch

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