Move over, Greg. The champ is here.
According to the New York Post, Fox Sports color commentator and former NFL tight end Greg Olsen has been kicked off the network’s top NFL commentary team, a role that former New England Patriots’ star Tom Brady will assume for the 2024 NFL season.
Olsen will now serve as the color commentator for Fox’s number 2 team, teaming up with play-by-play analyst Joe Davis, while Brady will join Kevin Burkhardt in Fox’s top booth.
To top it off, Fox Sports is reducing Olsen’s salary from $10 million to $3 million, the New York Post reported.
The move has been in the works for some time. Brady originally signed a 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox in 2022 to become the network’s top color commentator after he retired, the New York Post reported.
Olsen knew when he signed on with Fox that Brady would eventually replace him.
“It’s pretty clear that Tom’s going to come, and he’s going to take that seat alongside Kevin. We knew two years ago what we signed up for,” Olsen said in February on “The Rich Eisen Show.”
LFG! 😤
EXCLUSIVE: @MichaelStrahan announces that the @dallascowboys will face the Cleveland @Browns in Week 1 to mark @TomBrady‘s FOX Sports broadcasting debut.
📺: Catch the full 2024 @NFL Schedule release Wednesday, May 15 at 8p ET on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/n6oJ0wUMrB
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) May 13, 2024
Is demoting Greg Olsen the right move?
While Olsen told The Athletic in January that he was open to exploring all opportunities, he’ll be with Fox for at least one more season.
However, Olsen’s days with Fox may be numbered.
“My goal is to call number 1 games. That has not changed. If anything, I’m even more committed to chasing that path,” Olsen said to Eisen.
As long as Brady is in the mix, it’s hard to see how Olsen will achieve his goals at Fox.
“I’ve been honest with Fox, and they’ve been clear with me. I want to call top games. I want to call Super Bowls,” Olsen said.
It’s a tough setback for Olsen, who has etched his way into the “upper-echelon” of color commentary and has been “widely acclaimed across the sports media industry,” the New York Post reported.
Olsen’s talent and popularity have some in the football world, including Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, speaking out against his demotion.
“I love my guy Greg Olsen. They kind of did him dirty over there at Fox,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Jason Kelce.
Kelce, however, acknowledged that it’s unsurprising Fox made room for arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time, while still showing love to Olsen.
“But I mean, it’s Tom Brady, what can you do? Sometimes you just got to do your thing. And Greg does a … tremendous job.”
There’s no way for Fox to get around it. They did Olsen dirty.
Granted, Olsen knew when he took that job that it was only a temporary gig. What’s more surprising is that, even after becoming one of the best commentators in football, they still cut his salary by over 50 percent.
The move by Fox feels disrespectful toward one of its brightest stars.
However, Olsen should be looking for someone that will pay him what he’s worth.
Other color commentators are making leaps and bounds more than Olsen. On top of Brady’s massive deal, Tony Romo, the lead color commentator for CBS, makes $17 million a year according to the Associated Press.
Troy Aikman, who previously served as Fox’s lead color commentator, joined ESPN in 2022 on a 5-year, $90 million deal to serve as the lead color commentator for Monday Night Football, the New York Post reported.
When compared to other color commentators, Olsen is paid significantly less and could probably find someone to pay him more: both in money and in respect.
But, at the end of the day, Olsen is still getting paid millions of dollars a year to call football games.
That’s a pretty sweet job.
