| The NFL Today | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Pro Football Kickoff (1961–1962) NFL Kickoff (1962–1964) The NFL Report (1964) The NFL Today (1964–1974; 1975–1994; 1998–present) The NFL on CBS (September–December 1974) |
| Genre | Pre-game show |
| Directed by | Bob Matina |
| Presented by | James Brown Bill Cowher Nate Burleson Matt Ryan Jonathan Jones Adam Schein |
| Opening theme | SeeNFL on CBS music |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 58 (through2025 season)[1] |
| Production | |
| Producer | Drew Kaliski |
| Production locations | Sean McManus Studio 43,CBS Broadcast Center,New York,New York |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 15 minutes (1961–1967) 24 minutes (1967–1993) 60 minutes (1998–present) |
| Production company | CBS Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | September 17, 1961 (1961-09-17) – January 23, 1994 (1994-01-23) |
| Release | September 6, 1998 (1998-09-06) – present |
| Related | |
| NFL on CBS | |
The NFL Today is anAmerican football television program onCBS that serves as thepre-game show for the network'sNational Football League (NFL) game telecasts under theNFL on CBS brand. The program features commentary on the latest news around the NFL from its hosts and studio analysts, as well as predictions for the day's games and interviews with players and coaches. Originally debuting asPro Football Kickoff on September 15, 1961, the program airs before all NFL games broadcast by CBS (usually on Sundays at 12:00 p.m.Eastern Time Zone), and generally runs for one hour (except forThanksgiving and during the postseason when it is generally 30 minutes). The program's commentators also provide commentary during game updates, the halftime reports, and the postgame show on theNFL on CBS broadcasts at the conclusion of single early games and, if time permits, late games.
Since 2025, the crew consists of longtime sportscasterJames Brown, who has served as the host of The NFL Today since 2006; formerPittsburgh Steelers head coachBill Cowher; formerSeattle Seahawks,Minnesota Vikings, andDetroit Lions wide receiverNate Burleson; and formerAtlanta Falcons quarterbackMatt Ryan serving as analysts.
The NFL Today broadcasts from Sean McManus Studio 43 at theCBS Broadcast Center inNew York City; however, the program will occasionally broadcast from the game site of a high-profile regular season game, theAFC Championship Game, and theSuper Bowl. The pregame telecast of the Super Bowl has sometimes been branded asThe NFL Today at the Super Bowl, formerlyThe Super Bowl Today.
From 2014 to 2017, CBS partnered with theNFL Network to air selectedThursday Night Football games; theNFL GameDay crew has appeared in segments onThe NFL Today for both Thursdays and Sundays (and Saturdays when applicable).
The program began on September 15,1961, when CBS debuted the first remote 15-minute pre-game show, the first of its kind on network sports television. Originally titledPro Football Kickoff,[2] hosted byJohnny Lujack, the program originated from NFL stadiums around the country with a comprehensive look at the day's games. This show was succeeded in1962 and1963 byNFL Kickoff, withKyle Rote serving as its host.
On September 13,1964,Frank Gifford began hosting the renamedNFL Report, which was subsequently retitledThe NFL Today later that season. This version ofThe NFL Today[3] was a 15-minute, regional sports program that presented interviews with NFL players and coaches, and news and features about the league. In1967,The NFL Today expanded to a 30-minute format preceding game coverage.
On September 20,1970,The NFL Today signed industry-pioneering women:Marjorie Margolies (later elected toCongress fromPennsylvania in1992) produced and reported features, and actress Carole Howey, who also reported for the program.
In1971,Jack Whitaker andPat Summerall took over hosting duties on the program from Gifford, who left CBS to call play-by-play onABC'sMonday Night Football. In1973,The NFL Today began originating from CBS'New York City studios; the program also began to include reports from stadiums around the country, although it continued to be pre-recorded before each week's game day.
For1974, CBS abandoned the pre-recordedNFL Today broadcast and its short-form wrap-up show,Pro Football Report, for a live, wraparound style program titledThe NFL on CBS.[4] It started a half-hour prior to kickoff of either the singleheader or doubleheader telecast (12:30, 1:30, or 3:30 p.m.Eastern). On September 15, the revamped program debuted with a new three-segment format: the first featured highlights of the day's games and commentary, special features shot during the week were broadcast during the second segment, and the third covered the day's sports news, including scores and highlights at halftime. The program's hosts were Whitaker (who was brought into the studio after quite a few years serving as a play-by-play announcer for the network's NFL broadcasts) andLee Leonard.[4]
The program broke ground in a number of ways: it was the first live pre-game show, the first to show halftime highlights of other games televised by CBS, and the first to wrap up as a post-game show. CBS also began referring its stadium studios or its pre-game set, previously known as "CBS Control," as the "CBS Sports Center". The program also no longer featured a third member of the on-air crew stationed at CBS Control to provide scores, halftime information and – time permitting – post-game interviews, a position often held byDick Stockton during his early days at the network.
The program reinstated its previousNFL Today title on the September 21,1975, broadcast, with formerWBBM-TV andKCBS-TV sportscaster/anchormanBrent Musburger (previously a play-by-play announcer for CBS) serving as host, former NFL playerIrv Cross as an analyst, and formerMiss AmericaPhyllis George as one of the reporters. That year, the program won 13Emmy Awards. Sports bookieJimmy Snyder, nicknamed "The Greek," joined the program in1976. Jack Whitaker also contributed to the program as an occasional reporter and essayist during this period. It was during this period thatThe NFL Today began an 18-year run as the highest-rated program in its time slot, lasting until the network lost the broadcast rights to Fox in 1994, the longest consecutive run for a television program in a consistent time slot.
By this time, the program began the complex process of producing three separate live pre-game, halftime and postgame programs for 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. (through 1981) and 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) games. Also for the first time, signature musical pieces are produced for NFL coverage. The show's signature theme was "Horizontal Hold," a piece byJan Stoeckart (recorded under his pseudonym of Jack Trombey).The NFL Today was among the recipients of theSports Emmy Awards in its inaugural event in1979.
Phyllis George was replaced by formerMiss Ohio USAJayne Kennedy beginning with the1978 NFL season, before George returned to the program for the1980 NFL season. George was replaced on the program byCharlsie Cantey midway into the1983 NFL season, after going onparental leave, with George ultimately departing the program outright.[5] Jimmy Snyder was dismissed byCBS Sports on January 16, 1988, one day after making comments about racial differences among NFL players onMartin Luther King Jr. Day. Musburger announced Snyder's dismissal onThe NFL Today prior to theMinnesota Vikings-Washington Redskins NFC Championship Game the next day. Snyder's slot onThe NFL Today would subsequently be filled byDick Butkus for the next two seasons.
After the1989 NFL season, Musburger wasabruptly fired on April 1, 1990, following a power shift at CBS (he later resurfaced at ABC), while Cross was demoted to the position of game analyst.[6] They were replaced by formerESPN football analyst andWFAN morning hostGreg Gumbel (brother of then-Today co-hostBryant Gumbel), legendary formerPittsburgh SteelersquarterbackTerry Bradshaw and longtime sportswriterLesley Visser, bringing a female reporter back toThe NFL Today for the first time sinceSuper Bowl XVIII.
On December 18, 1993, the NFL awardedFox a four-year contract (worth$1.58 billion) for the broadcast television rights to theNational Football Conference (NFC), allowing that network to carry regular season and playoff games from the conference starting with the1994 NFL season (which it continues to this day). The deal stripped CBS of NFL telecasts following the1993 NFL season after 38 years;[7][8] as a result,The NFL Today ended its original run and CBS aired its final NFC telecast on January 23, 1994.
After CBS lost the NFL rights, Greg Gumbel went toNBC Sports, Terry Bradshaw left to become an analyst for Fox's new pre-game showFox NFL Sunday and Lesley Visser joined ABC as a sideline reporter forMonday Night Football; Gumbel and Visser eventually returned to CBS.
The NFL Today made its return to CBS in1998, after the network signed a contract with the NFL to acquire the broadcast rights to televise games from theAmerican Football Conference (AFC) effective with that year's NFL season, taking over the rights fromNBC.[9]
In the months before CBS began its AFC broadcast contract, formerNFL Today host Greg Gumbel rejoined CBS from NBC to serve as the lead play-by-play announcer for the NFL game; whileJim Nantz was named as the studio host forThe NFL Today (incidentally, during the 1993 season, Nantz filled in for predecessor Gumbel on the program, as the latter was helming the broadcast team forCBS' coverage of theAmerican League Championship Series alongsideJim Kaat). NewcomerBonnie Bernstein joined CBS as a reporter forThe NFL Today, before being moved to a sideline reporting role for the1999 NFL season. Bernstein eventually returned to the show in2004, before leaving again in2005.
The NFL Today returned on September 6,1998, 1,687 days since the program's last broadcast under the previous NFL contract, with Nantz welcoming back viewers to CBS for its coverage of the NFL. In addition to Nantz as host, the relaunched program's original lineup of studio analysts consisted ofMarcus Allen,Brent Jones andGeorge Seifert. Seifert was let go during the season, while Allen and Jones were not retained.Craig James (a former studio analyst for CBS'SEC on CBS pre-game show),Randy Cross (a former color commentator for CBS and NBC) andJerry Glanville (a former analyst forFox NFL Sunday) were brought in to replace Allen, Jones, and Seifert alongside Nantz on the pre-game show the next season. As a prelude, James and Cross joined Nantz, Jones, and Allen for the pregame show before the AFC Championship Game during the previous season.
During this time, the program introduced new segments such asChalk Talk (in which commentators and program guests discuss team strategies), andOutside the Huddle (featuring commentary mocking about people around the NFL provided by PUNT TV pregame host "Thurston Long," a computer-animated character.)[10]Outside the Huddle was later dropped afterViacom decided to split into two companies –CBS Corporation (a restructuring of the original Viacom, which retained CBS, among other assets that includedShowtime Networks andUPN) and a new company with theViacom name (which acquired assets includingParamount Pictures andMTV Networks).
Lesley Visser returned to CBS Sports/The NFL Today for the2000 NFL season after a six-year hiatus, serving as a feature reporter for the program. Visser leftThe NFL Today in2004 to work as the lead reporter for top NFL games. She returned to the program two years later in2006. Also during the 2000 season, formerChicago Bears andNew Orleans Saints coachMike Ditka joined the program as an analyst;Deion Sanders was added as an analyst in 2001.
For the2000 NFL season, the program moved part-time from the CBS Broadcast Center to a new outdoor studio on the site of theGeneral Motors Building, onFifth Avenue and59th Street inManhattan.[11] The set, which was used during the fall, was set up on Sunday mornings at a plaza in the area near the building that later became the glass structure of theApple Fifth Avenue store,[12] next to the southeast corner ofCentral Park. During the winter,The NFL Today was broadcast indoors from Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center.[13]
The program was rebooted again after the 2001 season withDan Marino andBoomer Esiason joining Nantz and Sanders. Sanders left the broadcast team afterSuper Bowl XXXVIII to return to the NFL, playing for theBaltimore Ravens until2004. Nantz followed shortly thereafter, being promoted to lead play-by-play broadcaster.
At the start of the2003 NFL season, CBS Sports introducedPosthumus Zone as the new theme music forThe NFL Today and for the network's NFL game telecasts. The song was composed byLos Angeleselectronica groupE.S. Posthumus, so named because it composes songs that have no-longer-existing ancient cities as amotif. In2006,Posthumus Zone and a remixed version titledRise to Glory were included as tracks on the group's second CD release,Rise to Glory. The songRise to Glory was also featured onThe NFL Today and on CBS' NFL broadcasts during the2005 NFL season.
With Nantz moving to the lead broadcast team alongsidePhil Simms, Gumbel returned to the studio to replace him onThe NFL Today.Shannon Sharpe also joined the team to replace Sanders as an analyst. Sharpe's critics said that his broadcasting skills were hurt by his poor grammar and enunciation of words (Sharpe has a very noticeablelisp anddrawl). This was parodied in asatire article inThe Onion with the headline, "CBS Producers Ask Shannon Sharpe To Use At Least 3 Real Words Per Sentence."[14]
The outdoor set was abandoned for the2005 NFL season, withThe NFL Today broadcasting from Studio 43 for the entire season. The following season (2006 NFL season),The NFL Today began broadcasting inhigh-definition television; the program introduced a new HD-ready set at Studio 43 with the conversion.
On February 6, 2006, CBS Sports announced the return of James Brown, who left CBS eleven years earlier to become studio host ofFox NFL Sunday, to the network as the host ofThe NFL Today beginning with the 2006 NFL season. Greg Gumbel moved back to play-by-play duties, teaming withDan Dierdorf as part of its secondary announcing team, replacingDick Enberg.
Lesley Visser returned toThe NFL Today after a two-year hiatus in her previous role as feature reporter, a position she continues to hold to this day; meanwhile, Bonnie Bernstein left the network to pursue other broadcasting opportunities. Aside from Visser returning to the show,Sam Ryan joined CBS Sports in June 2006, as a reporter forThe NFL Today; Ryan left the network after the2010 NFL season. In2007, CBS added a fifth member to its studio analyst table by adding then-recently retired head coachBill Cowher.
In 2012, following the murder-suicide ofKansas City Chiefs linebackerJovan Belcher and his girlfriend, Brown digressed on the program about the role that men needed to take in the fight againstdomestic violence. He accused the league's players of letting the NFL's reputation on domestic violence go unchanged.
Beginning with the2013 NFL season,The NFL Today, along with all other CBS Sports presentations, switched to a16x9widescreen presentation that extended or placed graphics outside of the 4:3safe area, with the network requiringcable television providers to use the #10Active Format Description tag to present the broadcasts in aletterboxing format for viewers watching a CBS station'sstandard-definition television feed.
On February 18, 2014, CBS Sports announced that Sharpe and Marino were being relieved of their duties as on-air commentators, to be replaced byTony Gonzalez andBart Scott.[15]
On February 5, 2014, the NFL announced that a deal with CBS to broadcastThursday night games during the first eight weeks of the NFL season games beginning the2014 NFL season in simulcast withNFL Network, with the remainder airing on NFL Network exclusively.[16][17] With the addition of the package, CBS announced an additionalNFL Today broadcast for the games, to be broadcast from the site of each week's game; with Brown and Cowher to be featured on both the Thursday and Sunday broadcasts, Deion Sanders returning to the program as an analyst for the Thursday editions, and while Esiason, Gonzalez and Scott remaining on the Sunday broadcasts.
During the first Thursday edition ofThe NFL Today on September 11, 2014, in the wake of the domestic violence controversy involving Baltimore Ravens running backRay Rice, Brown spoke via satellite toCBS News anchorScott Pelley and spoke face-to-face with CBS News correspondentNorah O'Donnell, who had interviewed NFL CommissionerRoger Goodell days before. Baltimore Ravens ownerSteve Bisciotti also appeared in a taped interview with Brown. During the pre-game, Brown updated his 2012 digression about domestic violence, wondering why in the two years since his initial commentary, that nothing had been done to change the problem, and how the problem had actually become worse.
Scott and Gonzalez both leftThe NFL Today prior to the 2017 season, with Gonzalez switching networks to join Fox's pregame coverage.Phil Simms, who had been demoted from CBS's lead color commentator position when the network hiredTony Romo for that post, andNate Burleson, who comes over fromNFL Network, replaced Scott and Gonzalez.
In the 2023 season, former defensive endJ. J. Watt joinedThe NFL Today as an analyst.[18] In 2024, former quarterbackMatt Ryan also joined the program. Esiason and Simms departed the network as their contracts expired at the end of the 2023 season.[19]
For the 2025 season, Watt departedThe NFL Today to become a CBS color commentator, whileAdam Schein took over as anchor for in-game updates that had previously been handled byThe NFL Today analysts.[20][21] The show premiered a two-hour digital extension,The NFL Today+, which is streamed on CBS Sports' digital platforms (includingCBS Sports HQ,YouTube, andParamount+) at 10 a.m. ET prior to the main program at 12:00 p.m.[22] After a trial for two regular season games in the 2024 season, CBS also announced thatThe NFL Today would broadcast on-site from selected regular season games throughout the season.[20]
On September 21, 2025,The NFL Today broadcast a special edition to mark its 50th anniversary, which featured a 1970's throwback theme and tributes to the program's history. Brent Musburger also made a one-off return as a guest panelist.[23][24][25]
The NFL Today at the Super Bowl, previously known asThe Super Bowl Today,[26][27] is the edition ofThe NFL Today that precedes theSuper Bowl during years when CBS has the rights to broadcast the game. The show is generally broadcast from the site of that year's game; inSuper Bowl LVIII's case, for example, the show originated from theLas Vegas Strip, in addition to the on-site set atAllegiant Stadium inLas Vegas,NV.
Similar to today's NFL Today show, which has a segment during the last 10 minutes of the show called "First to the Field" featuring the current NFL on CBS broadcast teams commenting on news and players surrounding their respective games, 1964's program originated live and on videotape at the playing fields where the games were being played and from special television studios at each stadium. The show was broadcast regionally to the same area carrying the game that followed
September 2000: The NFL Today studio show moves from the CBS Broadcast Center to a new indoor-outdoor studio located in the GM Building on Fifth Avenue in New York City
