On the Fox Sports org chart, Tom Brady is their No. 1 NFL broadcaster. The Emmys beg to differ.
Greg Olsen, ostensibly Fox's No. 2 broadcaster was nominated for the Outstanding Personality/Event Analyst award at the 2025 Sports Emmys, the award he won last year as Fox's No. 1 broadcaster. Brady was not among the five nominees after a rocky rookie year in the broadcast booth.
The other nominees: Troy Aikman (ABC/ESPN), Peyton Manning (ESPN2), Bill Raftery (CBS/TNT/Fox) and John Smoltz (Fox/Fox Sports 1).
Honored to be nominated for my 4th consecutive @TheEmmys 🏆🏆
— Greg Olsen (@gregolsen88) April 8, 2025
Congrats to everyone nominated. Some big time names!!@NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/MdBkU1Nidn
The nomination reflects what was already the consensus among NFL fans. Brady might be the bigger name and might have commanded a 10-year, $375 million contract to take Olsen's place as Fox's top color commentator alongside Kevin Burkhardt, but Olsen proved to still be the better listen.
The situation remains as awkward as you usually see from enormous media companies. Fox never planned for Olsen to be its No. 1 broadcaster so soon, but he was thrust into the role after Aikman and Joe Buck jumped to ESPN in 2022. In response, they hit Brady with a firehose of cash and used Olsen, their No. 2 broadcaster, as a temporary fix. Then Olsen turned out to be great at the job while Brady waited two years to make his debut.
It's not too far from being the sports world equivalent of the Conan O'Brien-Jay Leno "Tonight Show" fiasco at NBC a decade and a half back.
Olsen has been diplomatic about the demotion, but is also clearly looking to call big games like the Super Bowl that Brady got last season.
Adding another Emmy would certainly help the résumé, should he look elsewhere for that opportunity.
