NFL on Fox
| NFL on Fox | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Fox Sports |
| Starring | FOX NFL Sunday crew NFL on FOX game commentators |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 180 minutes or until game ends |
| Original release | |
| Network | FOX |
| Release | September 18, 1994 – present |
NFL on FOX is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports. Game coverage is usually preceded by the pre-game show FOX NFL Sunday.
The broadcast's distinctive theme music has been used since its inception in 1994. Derivatives of the NFL on FOX theme have been incorporated throughout Fox Sports' programming, including Fox Sports Net, as Fox Sports' overall theme, and FOX is in the process of registering the original theme as a trademark. [1] The theme was produced by Scott Schreer through his production company NJJ Music. The theme was composed by Scott Schreer, Reed Hays and Phil Garrod.
History
Though FOX was growing rapidly as a network, and had established itself as a presence, it was still not considered a major competitor to the "big three" broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC). FOX management, having seen the critical role that sports programming (football programming in particular) had played in the growth of satellite service BSkyB, believed that sports, and specifically professional football, would be the engine that would make FOX a major network the quickest.
Early bids
To this end, FOX bid aggressively for football from the start. In 1987 (FOX's first full year on the air), after ABC initially hedged on renewing its contract to carry Monday Night Football, FOX offered the NFL to pick up the contract for the same amount ABC had been paying, about $1.3 billion at the time. However, the NFL, in part because FOX had not established itself as a major network, chose to renew their contract with ABC.
Despite a few successful shows, the network did not have a significant market share until the early 1990s when News Corp. bought more TV station groups, such as New World Communications, Chris-Craft Industries, BHC Communications, and United Television, making it the largest owner of television stations in the United States.
FOX outbids CBS for the NFC package
Six years later, when the football contract was up for renewal again, FOX made what at the time was a bold and aggressive move to acquire the rights. Knowing that they would likely need to bid considerably more than the incumbent networks to acquire a piece of the package, FOX bid $1.58 billion for four years of rights to the NFC. The NFC was considered the more desirable conference (as opposed to the AFC package that NBC carried at the time) due to its presence in most of the largest U.S. markets, such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. To the surprise and shock of many, in late 1993, the NFL selected the FOX bid, in the process stripping CBS of football for the first time since 1956. FOX's coverage would start in the 1994 season.
CBS apparently underestimated the value of its rights with respect to its advertising revenues and to its promotional opportunities for other network programming. Indeed, FOX was still an upstart player in 1993, not yet considered on par with the "Big Three" networks - CBS, NBC and ABC. It had already had offbeat hits such as The Simpsons, but had no news or sports divisions, and its coverage was significantly weaker than that of its elder counterparts.
CBS personalities move to FOX
However, the vast resources of Rupert Murdoch allowed the network to grow quickly, primarily to the detriment of CBS. After bringing in David Hill from Murdoch's U.K.-based Sky Sports to head-up the new Fox Sports division, FOX raided the CBS Sports staff, hiring longtime producer Ed Goren as Hill's second-in-command, plus CBS personalities such as Pat Summerall, John Madden, James Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Matt Millen, and Dick Stockton, all of whom were prominently featured in FOX's NFL coverage.
In spring 1994, FOX's parent News Corporation struck an alliance with New World Communications, by now a key ownership group with several VHF CBS affiliates in NFC markets, and wary of a CBS without football. Nearly all of New World's stations converted en masse to FOX beginning that fall. The rights gave FOX many new viewers (and affiliates) and a platform for advertising its other shows.
A brand new era
FOX's acquisition of football was a watershed event not only for the network but for the NFL as well. Not only was it the event that placed FOX on a par with the "big three" broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) but it also ushered in an era of growth for the NFL which continues on largely to this day.
While the heavy concentration of population in NFC markets - as opposed to the smaller markets generally served by the AFC - virtually guaranteed a substantial audience, its instant success has nonetheless been remarkable given the substantial differences between FOX's coverage and the coverage provided by ABC, CBS, ESPN, TNT, and NBC up to that time.
"Same Game, New Attitude"
Fox's launch slogan was "Same Game, New Attitude." Indeed, its studio show focused more on entertainment and less on in-depth discussion of X's and O's. It also introduced bolder and innovative graphics, for instance, a continuous on-screen time-and-score graphic that Hill had originally used on Sky's soccer coverage. And it made much greater use of the sounds in the stands and on the field thanks to parabolic microphones. These innovations were quickly adopted by rival networks and helped to drive the development of further innovations such as the virtual first-down line.
Digital on-screen graphics
In its debut in the 1994 season, FOX's coverage featured the first "Scoring Bug." A transparent white graphic in the upper corner of the screen displayed the score and game clock throughout the entire telecast, an NFL first.
1996-2001
By 1996, the graphic changed to a full-statistics panel, where down and distance, penalty, and key in-game statistics would pop in and out when necessary. Within a couple years, the scoring bug became a staple on all sports broadcasts, on all networks, though NBC still took many more years to get a bug into any sports broadcast, and golf telecasts still do not use them at all. (They have been phased in on tennis telecasts.) In 2001, the graphic changed from a bug to a banner spanning the top of the screen, and included a scrolling graphic displaying real-time scores of other games in progress.
2001-2002
The first banner used was simpler than the ones used today. A simple black rectangle spanned the top of the screen from left to right, displaying the abbreviations of both teams in white. The scores would be shown in yellow boxes next to the team. The center showed the game clock in white, and to its right was the quarter("1st qtr", "2nd qtr", etc). The far right was the NFL on FOX logo. This banner was used for Major League Baseball on FOX broadcasts in 2004 until that year's postseason.
2003-2004
The banner was given a cosmetic upgrade beginning with the 2003 season. Instead of a large black rectangle, the banner consisted of several small, black parallelograms. Instead of abbreviations for the teams, their logos were now used. During the 2003 NFL playoffs, the logos were reduced in size, and the team abbreviations were put back beside them
2004-2005
Midway through 2004, the banner was slightly changed again. The team logos were removed, the abbreviations now took their place. This time, they were in the team's main color, and the banner returned to a large black rectangle. During the 2005 holiday season, for the week 15 Saturday game (TB at NE), a new white banner, resembling a chrome finish and first introduced at the start of FOX's coverage of the 2005 World Series, debut with animated snow accumulating on top. Periodically an animated snowplow would clear the screen of snow. The following week, the new banner was adopted for all games, however without the snow animation. The team abbreviations became white letters in the team's main color. This banner is still used for Major League Baseball on FOX broadcasts.
2006-
The current, and newest iteration of the scoring banner for the 2006 season features the real-time scores as a permanent fixture on the extreme right side of the bar, while the coloring of the banner changes to the colors of the team currently possessing the ball.
During playoff games and games featured on special days or holidays (such as the Thanksgiving Classic, NFC vs. NFC game), the scoring bar instead shows either the NFL Thanksgiving Classic logo, the NFL Divisional Playoffs/NFC Championship logo, or a special banner celebrating whichever holiday falls during that week from Fox Sports (for instance, confetti and a party horn with a traditional Happy New Year message). This iteration was also utilized for the network's Bowl Championship Series coverage, with the bowl's logo in the scoring bar for each game.
At the beginning of the season, a virtual on-field graphic showing an arrow pointing towards the direction of advancement and the down/yardage information began to be used on all plays. This has proved to be a controversial feature, however, as it obscures the players and often the action on the field (despite it's controversy, CBS and NBC have intruduced similar graphics during the 2007 Pre-Season); at the same time, the down/yardage information also displays on the scoring banner, resulting in duplicate presentation of the same information. The bar has also been enhanced for HDTV, and is thinner than previous versions, with little transparency. Also, the NFL on FOX logo this time, is on the far left instead of the far right. On the HDTV broadcasts, the above the banner features a translucent slanting pattern going from left-to-right across the screen. During the preseason telecasts, the quarter was indicated by illuminating four buttons (number of buttons lit indicated the quarter). But due to visiblity difficulties, the quarter returned to being numerically represented for the regular season.
December 31st, 2006 San Francisco/Denver Game
There was one exception to this package for the 2006 season, as FOX had to revert to the current Fox Sports Net (and former main Fox Sports) scoring banner and graphics package for its final regular season game of the year, San Francisco 49ers at Denver Broncos on December 31, 2006, due to a second blizzard in a week hitting Denver, preventing the usual amount of equipment for FOX's NFL coverage to arrive before the game. FSN Rocky Mountain (Denver's FSN network) assisted in the production of the game on short notice by providing the graphical production and other production services. Also, the "1st & Ten" graphic lines denoting the line of scrimmage and first down line were unavailable for this broadcast.
Ratings
FOX's NFL coverage remains the most-watched of any of the NFL rightsholders, with ratings for the network's 4:15 p.m. ET games frequently surpassing even those of the venerable Monday Night Football when it was on ABC. [citation needed]
Changes for 2006
After the 2005 season, James Brown left FOX to return to CBS Sports, where he would be the host of The NFL Today. On August 16, 2006, after weeks of speculation, the network officially announced that Joe Buck would take over the role. The move also changes the show from a permanent Los Angeles studio into a portable studio configuration, similar to the pregame show for NASCAR on FOX, where analysts Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson joined Buck at the of the game to which Buck is assigned as play-by-play announcer. Curt Menefee worked all halftime shows and all postgame shows on non-doubleheader Sundays, also from the same game site with the same analysts. Menefee hosted FOX NFL Sunday during the several weeks in October when Buck is not available; during that time, Buck called Major League Baseball postseason games, including the World Series. The October 15, 22 and 29 shows were broadcast from the Los Angeles studios; the show returned to the road on November 5.
It was also announced that weather reporter Jillian Barberie would not return for the coming season, as Barberie wished to stay at home in Los Angeles with her family.[2] Barberie did participate in at least one of the studio shows.
During the 2006 season, Chris Rose provided updated highlights during the game from the Los Angeles studio as a voice talent.
On November 17, 2006, a source told the Los Angeles Times that the final two pregame shows of 2006 would take place in the Los Angeles studios, with Buck hosting and Dick Stockton taking Buck's place at the games alongside Troy Aikman. The source cited that declining ratings no longer justified its high production costs, including security expenses. A FOX spokesman would only say that changes were being considered.[3]
2006 Playoffs controversies
The Fox Broadcasting Company has come under fire[4] by the Parents Television Council for displaying a fan wearing a shirt clearly saying "FUCK DA EAGLES!" in Saints colors. Three days after the broadcast, the network apologized. The Saints fan, Heather Rothstein, was contacted by Maxim magazine and was given a photo shoot[5].
Also during the 2006 NFC Championship between the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints at Soldier Field, in one shot from the overhead camera angle of the crowd, three Bears fans can clearly be seen giving the middle finger to the camera, uncensored.
In-studio personalities
In-game commentators (past & present)
References
- ^ USPTO serial number 78590770; can be accessed via the Trademark Electronic Search System.
- ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-08-16-hiestand-pga_x.htm
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/sports/custom/extras/la-sp-tvcol17nov17,1,6350453.column?page=2&coll=la-sports-extras
- ^ http://parentstv.org/PTC/publications/release/2007/0116.asp
- ^ http://www.maximonline.com/girls_of_maxim/pictures_and_bio/1262/FckDaEaglesHeather.girl?src=maxim_ed