For the first time in over three decades, Greg Gumbel won’t be covering the NFL next season.
Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reported Wednesday that the 76-year-old Gumbel signed a new deal with the network to remain the host of the NCAA Tournament, but bow out of the network’s professional football coverage.
Gumbel served as host of CBS’ “NFL Today” studio show from 1990-93, and then became the anchor of NBC’s NFL coverage after CBS lost the league’s rights.
The broadcaster returned to CBS in 1998, and began calling NFL games.
From the 1998 through 2003 seasons, Gumbel was CBS’ top NFL play-by-play announcer, alongside Phil Simms.
The pair called Super Bowl XXXV between the Ravens and Giants in 2001 and Super Bowl XXXVIII between the Panthers and Patriots in 2004.
Gumbel transitioned back to the studio for three years, and then returned to calling games from 2006 through this past season.
Last offseason, when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman got ESPN to back up the Brinks truck and Amazon paid a mint for Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit to call games, Gumbel opined that announcers don’t drive TV ratings.
“I will tell you, it has gotten crazy. I don’t have any need to be jealous of it. I’ve been treated really nicely and have always been appreciative of what I’ve been able to do for a long, long time,” Gumbel said.
“So I think that doesn’t apply to me. What does tickle my thought process is, I’ve never felt in my entire life there is an announcer who can bring someone to the TV set to watch a game that that viewer wasn’t already going to watch.
“And I believe the only thing a broadcaster can do is chase people away.”
With Gumbel out, it is expected that Andrew Catalon will earn a promotion to continue his rise at CBS.
“I’m a big fan of Andrew,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said during a conference call to promote the network’s NCAA Tournament coverage last week.
“[He] works incredibly hard, always prepared, unselfish, doesn’t mind his analyst being the star. And he’s just a wonderful human being also.
“He’s the kind of person you want on your roster. He’s going to get bigger and better assignments, as he grows older and he’s with us longer.”