Fox’s Kevin Burkhardt Is Ready to Call Super Bowl LVII

Kevin Burkhardt of Fox Sports at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles
Fox NFL announcer Kevin Burkhardt at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in October. (Image credit: Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Fox Sports’ telecast of Super Bowl LVII telecast Sunday will feature the familiar voices of its lead National Football League announcing team of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen, but for the announcers themselves the game marks their first time on the NFL’s biggest stage.

After taking over Fox’s lead NFL announcing team at the beginning of the season — replacing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who left for ESPN — Burkhardt and Olsen will deliver the play-by-play action for Fox’s Philadelphia Eagles-Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl telecast. Burkhart becomes the first play-by-play announcer other than Buck or Pat Summerall to call a Super Bowl for Fox since the network first acquired NFL television rights in 1994.

The significance of the opportunity is not lost on Burkhardt. A former reporter and substitute play-by-play announcer for New York Mets games on regional sports network SNY, he joined Fox Sports in 2013 to call the NFL and host Major League Baseball studio coverage. Burkhardt said he’s grateful for the opportunities that Fox Sports and its CEO and executive producer, Eric Shanks, have provided him over the years leading up to the Super Bowl LVII gig. (Shanks will be profiled in February’s B+C Multichannel News magazine as our 2023 Sports Executive of the Year.) 

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“It’s amazing … the whole experience is going to be so unbelievable,” he said. “I owe a ton to [Shanks] — he’s taken multiple chances on me,” he said. “I was doing TV for the Mets and he brought me on as a baseball studio guy, and then right away as a NFL play-by-play guy as the [number] two crew with [former Fox Sports announcer] John Lynch,” he said. “Then this year Joe and Troy leave and we had the A (team) to fill. Just because I was on the B crew didn’t mean I was automatically going to get the gig, but [Shanks] pretty much said ‘you’re our guy.’ To entrust me with that responsibility is a big deal.”

Kevin Burkhardt of Fox Sports and Houston Astros GM James Click after 2022 World Series

Kevin Burkhardt interviews Houston Astros GM James Click after the 2022 World Series.  (Image credit: Harry How/Getty Images)

Despite the high-profile nature of the Super Bowl, Burkhardt says he’s not doing things much differently to prepare for the Super Bowl than he does preparing to announce a regular-season matchup. “I know this won’t be like every other game, but I’m just preparing like I do every game,” he said. “When I got promoted this year, I said I was going to keep doing what I’m doing and keep the same prep routine because that’s what got me here. If I did something completely ridiculous for the Super Bowl I’d be an idiot.”

Burkhardt, who began his career calling high-school football games at a Northern New Jersey radio station in the late 1990s, says once the Super Bowl action starts, he’ll call it as he has every football game throughout his career.  

“The beauty for me is once the ball kicks off, it’s no different than any high school game I did,” he said. “I know how to do the game, so I think I’m just going to focus on that.” 

Fox Sports will deploy more than 94 cameras and 29 field-level microphones during its Super Bowl LVII telecast as it looks to provide in-depth coverage of the event. “We’re trying to do some things to get fans closer to the game, whether it’s with audio or new cameras,” Shanks said. “We usually end up doing some really interesting things from a graphics perspective or data perspective. But we'll be putting our second-to-none talent out front, from Kevin and Greg to our pre- and post-game talent. We always remember to put the game first.” ■  

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.