''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the

pre-game show A pre-game, pregame, or pre-match show is a television or radio presentation that occurs immediately before the live broadcast of a major sporting event. They typically feature previews and analysis relating to upcoming games (either a larger fixt ...

for the network's

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) game telecasts under the '' NFL on Fox'' brand. An audio simulcast of the program airs on sister

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) type ...

Fox Sports Radio, which is distributed by

Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. I ...

. As of 2014, the program has won four

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s. For sponsorship purposes, the show's full name is ''Fox NFL Sunday Presented by

Ford Trucks Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobile ...

'', which also promotes Ford's F-Series lineup as "the official pickup truck of the NFL”

History

1994–1997

''Fox NFL Sunday'' debuted on September 4,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, when Fox inaugurated its NFL game broadcasts through the network's recently acquired broadcast rights to the

National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference ...

(NFC); it was originally hosted by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

Howie Long Howard Matthew Moses Long (born January 6, 1960) is an American sports analyst and former professional football player. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons as a defensive end, spending his entire career with the Raider ...

and Jimmy Johnson (both Brown and Bradshaw had joined the network from

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

to help helm Fox's NFL coverage). The program was notable in being the first hour-long NFL pregame show on a broadcast television network; network pregame programs that existed beforehand, such as CBS' ''

The NFL Today ''The NFL Today'' is an American football television program on CBS that serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the ''NFL on CBS'' brand. The program features commentary on the latest ne ...

'' or

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' NFL Live!'', aired as 30-minute broadcasts. Fox's show also adopted a looser, more irreverent approach than its predecessors in order to also appeal to the network's younger-skewing audiences. ''Fox NFL Sunday'' was also the first network pregame program to originate from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, whereas the CBS and NBC pregame shows were produced in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(CBS continues to broadcast its pregame from New York, while NBC uses facilities in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

). During Jimmy Johnson's initial season on ''Fox NFL Sunday'', he would often join the show via satellite from his home in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. There was much speculation that Johnson would return to coaching during the first year of the program's run. Prior to the end of the year, Johnson made an "announcement", saying he was happy with his new career in broadcasting. But in 1996, he left the program to become head coach of the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

;

Ronnie Lott Ronald Mandel Lott (born May 8, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback and safety in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Lott played college football for the Univ ...

was brought in to succeed him, and stayed with the program for two seasons. During Jimmy Johnson's initial run on the show, the opening introduction would typically feature a comedic

skit Skit may refer to: * * A short segment in a performance, such as: ** Sketch comedy ** Hip hop skit ** Puppet skit ** Promo (professional wrestling) * Skit note, parody of a banknote See also * Skete A skete ( ) is a monastic communi ...

involving several or all of the hosts. On-location broadcast sites

1998–2002

In 1998, on the heels of

losing the broadcast rights to the NFL's

American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...

(AFC) to

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...

joined ''Fox NFL Sunday'' as an analyst – subsequently replacing Ronnie Lott. During this period, promotional

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

spots and teases became a popular fixture on the program, in which the four hosts were depicted as animated characters in live-action situations, usually starring real-life NFL players. Beginning with the 1999 season, comedian

Jimmy Kimmel James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, ...

(then the co-host of

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

's ''

The Man Show ''The Man Show'' is an American comedy television show on Comedy Central that aired from 1999 to 2004. It was created in 1999 by its two original co-hosts, Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel, and their executive producer Daniel Kellison. The pilot ...

'' and ''

Win Ben Stein's Money ''Win Ben Stein's Money'' is an American television game show created by Al Burton and Donnie Brainard that aired first-run episodes from July 28, 1997, to January 31, 2003, on Comedy Central. The show featured three contestants who competed to an ...

'') began making weekly game predictions and performing comedy skits on the show; the following year,

Jillian Barberie Jillian Marie Barberie (née Warry; born September 26, 1966) is a Canadian-born American television hostess, sportscaster, radio personality and actress. From 1995 to 2012, she was a co-host on the Los Angeles television morning news and enterta ...

(then the weather anchor/co-host of Los Angeles Fox

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

's ''

Good Day L.A. ''Good Day L.A.'' is an American morning television news and entertainment program airing on KTTV (channel 11), a Fox owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles, California, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corpo ...

'') was added to the program to provide weather forecasts for each week's game sites. On-location broadcast sites

2002–2005

Cris Collinsworth left the program in 2002, when he was promoted to Fox's newly formed "A Team" of NFL game announcers, alongside

Joe Buck Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster. The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for the network's Nation ...

and

Troy Aikman Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UCLA, ...

(replacing

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announ ...

and

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

). Fox produced several promos featuring Buck, Collinsworth and Aikman dressed as characters from the popular 1980s action series of the same name to promote the network's NFL coverage. Initially, the vacated fourth seat was to feature a rotating series of guest analysts, with Jimmy Johnson returning in Week 1. John Elway sat in during Week 2. For Week 3, Johnson returned, and took over the position permanently (he remains on the program to this day). Jimmy Kimmel left the program after the 2002 season a month before the premiere of his

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

''. He was replaced by comedian

Frank Caliendo Frank Caliendo Jr. (born January 19, 1974) is an American comedian, actor and impressionist, best known for his impersonations on the Fox Network television series ''MADtv'', and as the in-house prognosticator for '' Fox NFL Sunday''. In 2007 ...

– at the time, a cast member on Fox's late night sketch comedy series ''

MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reuni ...

'' – who had previously guest starred during Kimmel's skits (performing his well-known impersonation of John Madden). Caliendo's prognostication skits began to feature his various spot-on celebrity impersonations, including Madden,

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

Jim Rome James Phillip Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio host. His talk show, ''The Jim Rome Show'', is syndicated by CBS Sports Radio. Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts ''The Jim Rome Show'' on ...

and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, as well as show hosts Brown, Bradshaw, Long and Johnson. James Brown left the program after the 2005 season, in order to return to CBS to host its rival pregame show ''

''. On-location broadcast sites 2005 was the last season in which Fox (along with CBS) aired Saturday afternoon NFL games towards the end of the regular season in December. On these occasions, Fox would precede its coverage with a studio pregame show titled ''Fox NFL Saturday'', which had no change in format outside of the day in the title.

2006–2007

On August 13, 2006, Fox announced that Joe Buck and

Curt Menefee Curt Menefee (born July 22, 1965) is an American sportscaster who is currently the play-by-play commentator for Seattle Seahawks preseason football, play-by-play commentator of the 2020 XFL on Fox, the 2022 return of the USFL on Fox and is the ...

would succeed James Brown as hosts of the program. Because Buck was already serving as the lead play-by-play announcer for the ''NFL on Fox'' game broadcasts, each week's edition of ''Fox NFL Sunday'' was broadcast from the site of the network's top game of the week, in a move similar to Fox's NASCAR coverage, in which the pre-race show is telecast from the site of that week's race. Menefee hosted the halftime and postgame segments on location with the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' crew. Chris Rose served as the update host during game breaks. As a result of Buck going on assignment for Fox's MLB postseason coverage, Menefee substituted for Buck as the full-time host from Hollywood. During Weeks 6 through 8, while the show broadcast from Hollywood, Jillian Reynolds (née Barberie) returned as weather anchor for the game-day forecast segments. During Weeks 16 and 17, Buck served as the full-time host from Hollywood, with the rest of the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' crew. Dick Stockton took over as the main play-by-play analyst alongside

and

Pam Oliver Pam Oliver (born ) is an American sportscaster known for her work on the sidelines for various National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) games. Early life and education Oliver was born in Dallas, Texas. She att ...

, while Menefee returned to the booth as secondary play-by-play analyst alongside

Daryl Johnston Daryl Peter "Moose" Johnston (born February 10, 1966) is a former fullback in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Syracuse University. He was the General Manager of the San Antonio Commanders of ...

and

Tony Siragusa Anthony Siragusa Sr. (May 14, 1967 – June 22, 2022), nicknamed "the Goose", was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 12 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens in the National Football L ...

. Though the show returned to Hollywood for two weeks, Jillian Reynolds was absent, presumably having gone on

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...

, as she was pregnant with her first child at the time. During Wild Card weekend, Menefee substituted for Buck as host of the Hollywood-originated pregame show broadcast. Meanwhile, Buck called the January 7, 2007 game between the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

at the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. During the Divisional Playoffs, Menefee once again substituted for Joe Buck as host, as the pregame show again originated from Hollywood for both games. Stockton called the Saturday, January 13 game between the

at the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

and Buck called the Sunday, January 14 game between the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

at the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. For the 2006 NFC Championship Game between the

and

on January 21, 2007, Joe Buck hosted the pregame show with the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' crew on location from

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...

. After Buck joined Aikman for play-by-play duties, Menefee took over as host for the remainder of the game and hosted the halftime and postgame shows. Terry Bradshaw handled the trophy ceremony during the postgame show. 2006–2007 on-location broadcast sites

2007–present

In March 2007, it was announced that the program (then branded on-air as ''The Built Ford Tough Fox NFL Sunday'', via a sponsorship agreement with

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

) would resume studio broadcasts for the 2007 season, with Curt Menefee assuming full-time hosting duties and Joe Buck reverting to play-by-play only. Jillian Reynolds, who was coming off maternity leave, returned full-time as the program's weather anchor. However, the pre-game show was on-site at

Lambeau Field Lambeau Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home field of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), it opened in 1957 as City Stadium, replacing ...

for the 2007 NFC Championship Game between the

and the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

and at Super Bowl XLII. For the 2007 season, ''Fox NFL Sunday'' introduced a new feature, a pre-recorded segment titled "Grumpy Old Coaches", in which Jimmy Johnson and fellow former

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

head coach

Barry Switzer Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...

discuss the past week in football. A segment of highlights and commentary of the previous day's

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

games was also featured, as a gesture to Fox's then recent acquisition of broadcast rights to the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

(BCS). This segment was dropped following the 2007 season. On June 24, 2008, it was announced that former New York Giants defensive end

Michael Strahan Michael T. Strahan ( ; born November 21, 1971) is an American television personality, journalist, and former professional football player. He played his entire 15-year professional career as a defensive end for the New York Giants of the Nation ...

would join the show as an analyst. On November 8, 2009, a special two-hour edition of the program was broadcast on-location from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, featuring an audience of U.S. soldiers. While the regular ''Fox NFL Sunday'' crew did the pregame show,

Chris Rose Christopher Rose (born January 27, 1971) is an American sportscaster for the NFL Network. He is also a commentator for the Discovery Channel series ''BattleBots'' and podcast host for Jomboy Media. Early life and career Rose, who was born and r ...

served as the studio host and anchored the in-game highlights, as John Lynch and

Trent Green Trent Jason Green (born July 9, 1970) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for fifteen seasons. He played college football for Indiana University. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in ...

served as studio analysts for the halftime and post-game reports during the broadcast. On January 24, 2010, ''Fox NFL Sunday'' broadcast on-location from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

for the 2009 NFC Championship Game. On January 23, 2011, ''Fox NFL Sunday'' also broadcast an on-location edition at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for the 2010 NFC Championship Game; the program held its

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...

pregame show in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

on February 6, 2011. Starting with the

2011 NFL season The 2011 NFL season was the 92nd regular season of the National Football League and the 46th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Thursday, September 8, 2011, with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay defeating the Super Bowl XLIV champion New ...

, the show introduced a new feature called "Fox :45", which is usually formatted a sing-along parody of a famous song, or as a comedic sketch. The parodies and sketches usually relate to current events occurring during the football season. The program also introduced the "

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Tracker", which scrolls tweets from NFL players and coaches. On August 2, 2012, Frank Caliendo announced on his official Twitter account that he would not return to ''Fox NFL Sunday'' as a prognosticator for the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

season; comedian and former ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' cast member Rob Riggle was eventually named as his replacement. On September 11, 2016, ''Fox NFL Sunday'' was broadcast on location in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

(the host city of

Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...

) for the start of the 2016 NFL season. This also marked Curt Menefee's tenth season as full-time host of the pregame show. While the crew did the pregame, halftime and post-game shows,

Charissa Thompson Charissa Jean Thompson (born May 4, 1982) is an American television host and sportscaster working for Fox Sports. Previously, Thompson worked for ESPN, Versus, as well as for GSN and the Big Ten Network. She was the co-host of '' SportsNation ...

(host of ''

Fox NFL Kickoff ''Fox NFL Kickoff'' is an American sports television program that originally debuted on FS1 on September 8, 2013, and moved to Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) on September 13, 2015, and serves as the secondary pre-game show for the network's Nat ...

'') served as the studio host and anchored the in-game highlights. Riggle left the program after the 2019 season and wasn't replaced, with the role of prognosticator dropped from the program starting with the 2020 season. During the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns, Jimmy Johnson was not in the studio, working remotely from Florida as a precaution. Then for the games on November 22, the whole team was momentarily replaced due to greater COVID-19 restrictions within the state of California, with Chris Myers taking over the hosting duties and former players Reggie Bush and Charles Woodson taking over the analyst's roles. Once the Thanksgiving games were underway the regular crew came back minus Bradshaw. In May of 2022, it was announced that former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton would be joining as an analyst on days when Jimmie Johnson would be out.

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Fox NFL Sunday team at Bagram Airfield 2009-11-07 2

– studio host (

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

–present) *

– analyst/co-host (

–present) *

– analyst (

–present) *

– analyst ( 2008–present) * Jimmy Johnson – analyst (

–

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

;

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

–present) * Sean Payton – analyst (

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

–present) *

Jay Glazer Jason Charles "Jay" Glazer (born December 26, 1969) is a television personality and sports reporter. Since 2004, he has worked as an National Football League (NFL) insider for Fox Sports' NFL pregame studio show, '' FOX NFL Sunday'', on which he r ...

– NFL insider ( 2007–present) * Mike Pereira –

rules analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

(

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

–present) *

Erin Andrews Erin Jill Andrews (born May 4, 1978) is an American sportscaster, television personality, and actress. She rose to prominence as a correspondent on the American cable sports channel ESPN after joining the network in 2004. She later joined Fox S ...

– reporter (

–present) *

– reporter (

–present) *

Chris Myers Chris Myers (born ) is an American sportscaster. He has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four, The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Triple Crown, the Olympics, and the Daytona 500. Early life and care ...

– postseason reporter/fill-in studio host ( 2003–present) *

- Reporter ( 2018–present)

Former on-air staff

– weather anchor (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

–

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, guest appearances in

, 2007, 2008) *

– studio host (

–

) *

– pregame and postgame host (

) *

– prognostication ( 2003–2011) *

Jim Cantore James D. Cantore (born February 16, 1964) is an American meteorologist. He is best known as an on-air personality for The Weather Channel. Career A native of Beacon Falls, Connecticut, who was raised in White River Junction, Vermont, Cantore g ...

– weather anchor ( 1999) *

– analyst ( 1998– 2001) *

Priscilla Hojiwala ` Priscilla Hojiwala is an American broadcast journalist and sports anchor in Los Angeles last reported as working as an on-air correspondent for ReelzChannel, REELZCHANNEL freelance, covering Hollywood movie premieres, awards shows, red-carpet ev ...

– reporter ( 1999–

) * "Cousin Sal" Iacono – prognostication (guest star with Kimmel in

) *

– prognostication ( 1999–

, guest appearances in 2007) *

– analyst ( 1996– 1997) * Rob Riggle – prognostication (

– 2019) *

– analyst ( 2007) *

Jeanne Zelasko Jeanne Zelasko (born October 26, 1966) is an American journalist and sportscaster who worked for "The Beast" AM980 KFWB and Fox Sports West in Los Angeles County, California. Prior to taking that position Zelasko had a relatively lengthy career w ...

– reporter ( 1996– 2008) *

Rob Gronkowski Robert James Gronkowski (born May 14, 1989) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. Nicknamed "Gronk", Gronkowski played nine seasons for the New England Patriots, then played h ...

- analyst (2019) *

Tony Gonzalez Anthony David Gonzalez (born February 27, 1976) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. Regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, he is the NFL's all-time leader ...

- analyst ( 2017–

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

)

On-air staff chart

Cleatus the Robot

"Cleatus the Robot" is a CGI-animated robot character that serves as the official mascot for ''Fox NFL Sunday,'' and the entirety of Fox Sports. It was named through a viewer contest held in the winter of 2007, in which fans were asked to submit entries to select the robot's name. Cleatus made his first appearance on the program during the 2005–06 NFL season, but was not used regularly until the following season. The character was designed by

Legacy Effects Legacy Effects, LLC is an American special effects studio specializing in creature design, prosthetic makeup, animatronics, and specialty suits. History Founding partners Lindsay Macgowan, Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant, and Alan Scott supervised pr ...

. Cleatus mainly appears during the opening sequence of the program, as well as during end-of-break sponsorship tags within the program and during game telecasts, certain identifications for Fox Sports used to close sports broadcasts and as a cue to Fox stations to air local advertisements during commercial breaks, and brief promotions for movies and television series. In the latter instance, he commonly gets attacked by a CGI character from the subject of the advertisement (such as

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

, a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

from the movie ''

Eragon ''Eragon'' is the first book in ''The Inheritance Cycle'' by American fantasy writer Christopher Paolini. Paolini, born in 1983, began writing the novel after graduating from home school at the age of fifteen. After writing the first draft for a ...

'', a

T-1000 The T-1000 is a fictional Character (arts), character in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' franchise. A shapeshifter, shapeshifting Android (robot), android Terminator (character concept), Terminator Assassination, assassin, the T-1000 ...

robot from the Fox drama '' Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles'', and

The Burger King The Burger King is a king character used as the primary mascot for the fast-food restaurant chain of the same name. Throughout the company's history, the king has undergone several iterations. The first iteration of the Burger King was part of a ...

, who taunted Cleatus by throwing objects at him). Cleatus is also seen doing various things such as hopping on two feet, playing an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

, shaking out his limbs, and performing dance moves such as The Swim and the

Electric Slide The Electric (better known as The Electric Slide) is a four wall line dance set to Marcia Griffiths and Bunny Wailer's song "Electric Boogie". Choreographer, pianist and Broadway performer Richard L. "Ric" Silver created the dance in 1976 fro ...

; during the Fox broadcast of a

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

game on December 11, 2011, he also Tebowed (the kneeling

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

position popularized by former Broncos player Tim Tebow). Games aired on the weekend following

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

typically show Cleatus sitting on a bench holding an

ice pack An ice pack or gel pack is a portable bag filled with water, refrigerant gel, or liquid, meant to provide cooling. They can be divided into the reusable type, which works as a thermal mass and requires freezing, or the instant type, which cools ...

to his head, as if nursing a hangover. During the MLB postseason in October until the conclusion of the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

(both of which air on Fox), the character is also seen taking baseballs from a basket and hitting them with a bat towards the background. Cleatus is usually replaced with a robotic turkey during Fox's Thanksgiving NFL game broadcasts. Fox has since manufactured an

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...

of the character, which it sells on the Fox Sports website, available in the character's normal appearance as well as in special uniforms customized for all 32 NFL franchises. In response to the creation of Cleatus, Fox Sports created Digger, an animated gopher mascot for ''

NASCAR on Fox ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox television network in the United States since 2001. Speed, a motorsports-focused cable channel ...

'' telecasts; the character was originally seen only during the races when the in-track cameras knowns as the "Digger Cam" were shown, but his role soon expanded. Unlike Cleatus, however, Digger was not well received by fans, and sparked an internet and

outcry for his removal from the broadcast. While Digger was featured heavily in 2009, he only made cameo appearances in 2010 before being phased out completely the following year. Starting in 2014, Frank Krimel is the driver of

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

Cleatus competing in

Monster Jam Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some additiona ...

. Cleatus was included in an episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'', "

The Spy Who Learned Me "The Spy Who Learned Me" is the twentieth episode of the The Simpsons (season 23), twenty-third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United Stat ...

", and in sketches on ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

''. During the 2019

WWE draft The WWE Draft, alternatively called the WWE Superstar Shake-up from 2017 to 2019, is a process used by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters between the Raw (WWE brand), Raw and SmackDown (WWE bran ...

, Cleatus the Robot would appear in war room-style backstage vignettes with actors portraying Fox executives making selections for the ''

WWE Smackdown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

'' brand.

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, which was until October 2018 owned by 21st Century Fox, uses a modified version of the Cleatus opening sequence and sponsorship tags with their own branding.

References

Fox NFL Sunday Now Featuring Only Jimmy Johnson's Breasts

Buck done with Fox hosting duties

History of Network NFL Pre-Game shows

External links

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FOX NFL Sunday ''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under t ...

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