CBS Sports made the unconventional decision Sunday to send The NFL Today on-site to Orchard Park, NY for a high-profile matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
On-site pregame shows in the NFL are usually reserved for occasions like conference championship games and Super Bowls. On a week-to-week basis, only Amazon’s Thursday Night Football and ESPN’s Monday Night Football send pregame studio shows on-location.
But given the recent history of the Chiefs-Bills rivalry, and the massive AFC playoff ramifications, it made sense for CBS to send its show to Highmark Stadium on Sunday.
And there to join The NFL Today crew of James Brown, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson, J.J. Watt, and Matt Ryan was CBS lead NFL play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz, who suggested that the show go on the road more often.
Nantz, who has called five of the seven matchups between Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Bills quarterback Josh Allen, started his appearance by saying, “First off, I’ve been watching the show from the top. You gotta do this more often. This is the best. We’ve been doing this show a long time, this is new ground.”
Now on-site studio shows are nothing new in the sport of football. ESPN’s College GameDay and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff travel to games every week during the season. Watt even decided to evoke some of that energy during the show earlier today.
But it is a rather novel idea for CBS in particular. And while it may not make sense for the network to do this every week, it’s good to know they can go on the road when the matchup calls for it.
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About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.