Who is broadcasting Super Bowl 2020? A guide to the TV channel, announcers & more on Super Bowl 54 rights

Tadd Haislop

Who is broadcasting Super Bowl 2020? A guide to the TV channel, announcers & more on Super Bowl 54 rights image

The Super Bowl has become the golden goose of broadcasting, and the 2020 edition between the 49ers and Chiefs will be no different. There's even a chance that what's becoming the most expensive Super Bowl of all time to attend also will become the most watched Super Bowl in TV history.

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Consider the following: In 2018, the Super Bowl obviously topped the charts of the most watched TV broadcasts in the United States — 103,470,966 viewers as the average audience throughout the telecast based on Nielsen Company figures. The fifth most watched TV broadcast of the year, behind the AFC/NFC championship games and a divisional playoff game? The Super Bowl pregame show.

The year before that, when the Patriots and Eagles played the first overtime game in Super Bowl history, an absurd 172 million people watched "some portion of the broadcast," also per Nielson figures.

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So, yeah, the borderline unhealthy fixation on America's biggest professional sporting event is a constant. This is why TV networks pay roughly $1 billion for the right to broadcast NFL games in some capacity.

Over the last decade and a half, though, only three TV networks have benefited from the boost that is a Super Bowl broadcast.

Who is broadcasting the Super Bowl in 2020?

Beginning with the deal the NFL reached with networks in 2006 and continuing with their latest deal in 2014, CBS, Fox and NBC — the league's three primary broadcast partners — have rotated Super Bowl broadcast rights over the last 14 years.

In 2020, it's Fox's turn to broadcast the Super Bowl, marking its last Super Bowl broadcast of the current TV rights deal. This will be the ninth time Fox has shown the Super Bowl. (CBS has the most Super Bowl broadcasts with 20.)

The NFL's current agreement with its network partners is set to expire in 2022 after Super Bowl 56. With ratings up for the 2019 season, the league could become aggressive in negotiations this year and push to get a new deal in place by 2021, which would set the Super Bowl broadcast schedule beyond 2022 and into the near future.

Below is the list of Super Bowls that have been broadcasted (and will be broadcasted) with the rotation set by the current TV agreement.

Super Bowl Broadcast network NFL season
Super Bowl 56 NBC 2021
Super Bowl 55 CBS 2020
Super Bowl 54 (49ers vs. Chiefs) Fox 2019
Super Bowl 53 (Rams vs. Patriots) CBS 2018
Super Bowl 52 (Eagles vs. Patriots) NBC 2017
Super Bowl 51 (Falcons vs. Patriots) Fox 2016
Super Bowl 50 (Panthers vs. Broncos) CBS 2015
Super Bowl 49 (Seahawks vs. Patriots) NBC 2014
Super Bowl 48 (Seahawks vs. Broncos) Fox 2013
Super Bowl 47 (49ers vs. Ravens) CBS 2012
Super Bowl 46 (Giants vs. Patriots) NBC 2011
Super Bowl 45 (Packers vs. Steelers) Fox 2010
Super Bowl 44 (Saints vs. Colts) CBS 2009
Super Bowl 43 (Cardinals vs. Steelers) NBC 2008
Super Bowl 42 (Giants vs. Patriots) Fox 2007
Super Bowl 41 (Bears vs. Colts) CBS 2006

ABC last broadcasted a Super Bowl in 2006 (after the 2005 NFL season), but the Disney-owned network, now affiliated with ESPN, could work itself back into the Super Bowl rotation with upcoming negotiations for the next TV deal that will begin in 2022.

"If ESPN pays enough they could secure one," Fox Sports executive Patrick Crakes told The Big Lead in March. "For ABC though. Not ESPN — although they could do a simulcast with ABC. They could also secure a Super Bowl with a new package of 8-10 games carved out from current Sunday daytime, London/international and holiday games.”

ABC/ESPN also could land some Super Bowls by taking either CBS' or Fox's Sunday packages, according to The New York Post. As one might expect, it's all about the money.

How much does it cost to broadcast the Super Bowl?

The NFL reportedly makes more than $5 billion per year from the sales of broadcast rights (including $1.5 billion from DirecTV for "Sunday Ticket" rights).

Fox reportedly pays the most — $1.1 billion for a package that includes Sunday games, a share of "Thursday Night Football" and its place in the Super Bowl broadcast rotation.

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CBS reportedly pays $1 billion for the same package minus the "Thursday Night Football" games. NBC reportedly pays $950 million for the rights to "Sunday Night Football" games, which has become the league's premier prime-time package, and hold its place in the Super Bowl rotation.

Which makes ESPN's current deal with the NFL, set to expire in 2021, a year before the others, less than ideal in comparison. ESPN reportedly pays more than $1 billion per year for the right to broadcast "Monday Night Football" games, for which the quality in scheduling has slipped, without being part of the Super Bowl broadcast rotation.

Some have speculated this is because of a not-so-great relationship between the NFL and ESPN, one that reportedly has improved.

The cost of the next round of broadcast rights will increase no matter who gets them, so the negotiations, especially between ABC/ESPN and the NFL, will be interesting.

Super Bowl announcers: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman

Buck, who has called five Super Bowls, has been Fox's lead NFL play-by-play commentator since 2002. Aikman joined him on the network's No. 1 broadcast crew the same year.

Only Pat Summerall and John Madden have called more NFL games as a duo than Buck and Aikman.

In Sporting News NFL writer Vinnie Iyer's estimation, Buck and Aikman lead the fifth best NFL broadcast team.

Fox's No. 1 crew is ranked behind NBC's No. 1 (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya), CBS' No. 1 (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson), CBS' No. 2 (Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts and Evan Washburn) and Fox's No. 2 (Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis and Pam Oliver).

Super Bowl sideline reporters: Erin Andrews and Chris Myers

Andrews returned to Fox Sports in 2012 after eight years with ESPN. She has covered two Super Bowls in that time in addition to countless World Series games and high-profile NFL games.

She also co-hosts ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," a show on which she competed in its 10th season.

Erin-Andrews-012320-Getty-FTR.jpg

Myers is a do-it-all talent for Fox. This will mark his second Super Bowl serving as a sideline reporter, a role he fills for Fox's NFC playoff presentations, but he also works the entire NFL regular season as a lead play-by-play announcer with analyst Daryl Johnson.

Myers also contributes with NASCAR, MLB, Premier Boxing Champions and Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show coverage for Fox thoughout the year.

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In addition to Buck and Aikman in the booth and Andrews and Myers on the sidelines, Fox's Super Bowl broadcast will feature NFL rules analysts Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino.

What channel is the Super Bowl on?

Super Bowl 54 between the 49ers and Chiefs will broadcast nationally on Fox.

Below are the top 40 TV markets in the Unites States and the local Fox affiliate for each.

Market Fox affiliate (digital/virtual channel)
New York WNYW (5)
Los Angeles KTTV (11)
Chicago WFLD (32)
Philadelphia WTXF-TV (29)
Dallas-Ft. Worth KDFW (4)
San Francisco/Bay area KTVU (2)
Washington D.C. WTTG (5)
Houston KRIV (26)
Boston WFXT (25)
Atlanta WAGA-TV (5)
Phoenix KSAZ-TV 10
Tampa/St. Petersburg WTVT (13)
Seattle KCPQ (13)
Detroit WJBK (2)
Minneapolis-St. Paul KMSP-TV (9)
Miami WSVN (7)
Denver KDVR (31)
Orlando WOFL (35)
Cleveland WJW-TV (8)
Sacramento (KTXL 40)
Charlotte WJZY (46)
Portland KPTV (12)
St. Louis KTVI (2)
Pittsburgh WPGH-TV (53)
Baltimore WBFF (45)
Raleigh-Durham WRAZ (50)
Nashville WZTV (17)
San Diego KSWB-TV (69)
Salt Lake City KSTU (13)
San Antonio KABB (29)
Kansas City WDAF-TV (4)
Columbus WTTE (28)
Milwaukee WITI (6)
Cincinnati WXIX-TV (19)
Las Vegas KVVU-TV (5)
Jacksonville WFOX-TV (30)
Oklahoma City KOKH-TV (25)
New Orleans WVUE-DT (8)
Memphis WHBQ-TV (13)
Buffalo WUTV (29)

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Tadd Haislop

Tadd Haislop is the Associate NFL Editor at SportingNews.com.