Brent Musburger, who did just about everything as a sports broadcaster with CBS Sports and ESPN/ABC Sports across five decades, will receive the 2025 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Musburger, currently still broadcasting for Musburger Media’s Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN), will be honored during the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week. That event includes the Enshrinees’ Gold Jacket Dinner in downtown Canton on Friday, Aug. 1, and the Class of 2025 Enshrinement on Saturday, Aug. 2, in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
“The Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award recognizes broadcast excellence in pro football, and Brent Musburger certainly measures up to that standard,” said Jim Porter, president and CEO of the Hall of Fame, in a statement. “Brent has entertained and informed generations of fans — across not only pro football but college football, basketball, Little League baseball, golf, tennis and other sports — with insights and some signature phrases that became a trademarked style.”
Musburger was informed of the news by Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil, who is his longtime friend and a former on-air broadcasting partner.
“I’m kind of thunderstruck,” Musburger told Vermeil, per a release. “I never expected this.”
Musburger might be being a little humble there. The original host of CBS Sports’ The NFL Today and halftime reporter for Monday Night Football also covered Super Bowls and worked as the play-by-play voice of the Las Vegas Raiders from 2018 until 2022. And that’s on top of all the college football, NBA, tennis, golf, soccer, and horse racing coverage he provided over the years. Not to mention, he coined “March Madness.”
“I just wish Irv Cross, Phyllis George and (Jimmy) ‘The Greek’ (Snyder) were here,” Musburger said of his NFL Today colleagues, noting that the show and his co-workers were “the big reason I would be considered for the Pete-Rozelle Radio-Television Award.”
Many sports media members stumped for Musburger to receive this honor last year, and their calls were heeded.
Past winners of the award include Joe Buck, Dick Ebersol, James Brown, Tom Jackson, Andrea Kremer, Al Michaels, Jim Nantz, Chris Berman (who once said he wanted to be Musburger when he grew up), and Irv Cross.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.