Last NFL season, the GOAT Tom Brady stumbled in his inaugural perch in Fox’s number one announcer’s box, receiving a torrent of income criticisms for his tone and delivery, what he added to the conversation, and how he managed his conflict with owning a slice of the Las Vegas Raiders (he did improve by the Super Bowl).
So, for all the canned and corny jokes that litter an Upfront, not once did Brady, Michael Strahan, Rob Gronkowski, and Erin Andrews make light or allude to the fact that Fox’s best announcer, Greg Olsen, is stuck on the number two team because of the $37.5 million annually Fox is contracted to pay the seven-time Super Bowl winner for the next nine seasons. If anyone had suggested such a joke, it wouldn’t have made the final edits, though Brady tossing a football out of reach to Gronk did.
In fact, Gronkowski’s greatest crack of the afternoon came during a bit with Fox News’s Harris Faulkner, but the target was his former head coach.
“When was the very first upfront?” Faulkner asked. Gronkowski replied, “I’m gonna guess, oh, 1962?” Faulkner, “That’s impressive. Very good. 1962. Well, of course, back in 1962 Fox wasn’t even a twinkle in Rupert Murdoch’s eye. Fox didn’t begin broadcasting until 1986.” And the zinger from Gronkowski, “Well, in 1986 coach Belichick’s girlfriend was a twinkle in his eye.”
All in all, it was a quiet upfront, especially coming on the heels of NBC’s unveiling of Michael Jordan as a special contributor to the NBA on NBC, a move that quickly became talk show fodder. The biggest sports news out of Fox was an exclusive NFL doubleheader on the Saturday of Week 16. Outside of that tidbit, we didn’t learn much that was new.
Maybe that’s why Fox passed out champagne at the end, to liven things up. Okay, that wasn’t it, the reason was to celebrate Gordon Ramsay’s 20 years with Fox.
Fox Sports has a lot coming up from the NFL, MLB playoffs, and the World Cup next year, so it would have been nice to have a kernel of buzzy news. Rest assured, Stephen A. won’t be talking about this Fox Upfront, which is designed for programmers to pitch their best material to advertisers with celebrity sizzle and news drops.
It was interesting to see what Fox emphasized: Tubi. The free ad-supported network is the darling of Fox’s eye, with roughly the first 30 minutes of the upfront consumed by Tubi and some of its Generation Z-oriented shows. (I’ll spare you the details, but one involved animated bears with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley among the voice-over talents.) The Super Bowl in February on Tubi was the most streamed one yet, but if there is a larger sports strategy at Tubi, Fox didn’t talk about it. There was mention of Tubi getting involved with the World Cup, but how was not discussed. Also not highlighted was Fox’s planned app, its first major foray into the streaming wars.
Fox spent more time hyping the Indianapolis 500 than the World Series. IndyCar owner David Letterman made an appearance. Michael Strahan picked him up, apparently reprising a move the former Giant did on the comedian’s show. Also, two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden appeared with the race’s ginormous trophy. Strahan called himself a gearhead and said he would drive the pace car at the May 25th race.
Fox is, of course, in great shape with the runaway number one news program on cable and rivaling broadcasters with far more reach. Anchor Bret Baier made comments remotely from Saudi Arabia, where he is following President Trump. Fox Sports remains a powerhouse with its strong NFL business and the World Cup. It would have been nice to have more meat thrown into the media and advertising mill today.