Olson’s annual salary as Fox’s lead commentator is reportedly $10 million, a figure that will drop to $3 million when he is bumped into second place by Brady. Contrary to some suggestions that he might jump to another network next season, Olsen is clearly not going anywhere. “When Tom joins Fox next year, Greg will be on the second unit,” Olson’s agent, Peter Ruskin Let me know in an email. Olson said his approach to this season is “no different than last year,” but that doesn’t mean he’s tuned out all the noise.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you and give you some cliche answer that I never thought about it,” Olson said of Brady’s situation. “I think it’s all bullshit. We’re all human. “We’re all competitive. “
Like Brady, Olson began his broadcasting career before it was over. He first auditioned for Fox in 2015 while visiting a friend in Los Angeles. Two years later, Olson, still with the Panthers, spent his bye week in the booth as a guest analyst on Fox and returned again in 2019. He also dabbled in commentating on local sports shows in Charlotte, where he still lives. his wife, Kara, and their three children.
It sounds like someone who has a long-term career in television, but Olsen downplayed his broadcasting ambitions. “It never really came to my attention in any official way,” he said. “There was never a day like when I said, ‘Hey, I want to get into television.'” As time went on, things went my way, and every opportunity got bigger and bigger in the same amount of time. “
Olsen announced his retirement after the 2020 NFL season and used the retirement announcement to reveal his plans to join Fox. The network immediately paired him with Burkhardt, who had covered some of Olson’s high school football games as a local reporter in New Jersey.
Regardless of how Olson arrived at the job, he has been dedicated to his work ever since.
Each week before his assigned games, he pores over material prepared by the Fox research team — team statistics and various media reports — and uses them to flesh out his “game board,” a collection of notes and A running compilation of nuggets. Ends Friday night. The document will inform his comments during the game, giving him storylines and context to inject into the broadcast. After arriving in the home team’s city on Saturday, Olsen spent several hours trying to “play the game before the game started,” he said, dissecting a series of scenarios before kickoff.
“If something breaks out, what are we going to talk about? If it’s a close game, what are we going to talk about? If every team scores 30 points, what do we want to talk about? If both teams haven’t A touchdown, and it’s the third quarter now, what else can we talk about?” Olson said.
“Your comfort level on game day is a reflection of your work week. There’s nothing you can’t and feel comfortable talking about during that game.”
That preparation has shown up on Olson’s broadcast tape, which separates him from his lazy peers who showed up on Sunday without any meaningful observations. Olson didn’t have that problem, but he did have a lot to say at one point. Richie Zinyonc, Fox’s longtime NFL producer helped keep the situation under control, often reminding Olson that he didn’t have to cram all his thoughts into the brief interludes between games. For Olson, the broadcast didn’t really begin until he heard Zyontz warning him in his headset. The game is very long. You don’t have to take every idea into consideration at once. Olsen admitted to “trying to tell everyone everything every game.” Now, if Olsen were to take three points, he would only pick one and leave the rest for later.
By the end of last season, Olsen had come into his own. He showed restraint on the microphone while winning over fans with his cheerful personality and sharp analysis. Olson, 38 and just a few seasons into his career, didn’t use buzzwords in his comments, but he showed an understanding of the modern NFL. Olson knows his stuff, but he’s not a show-off.
February’s Super Bowl showcased Olson’s best qualities as a broadcaster. He’d spent the entire week preparing to discuss the Philadelphia Eagles’ tendencies on fourth down — the team’s two single drives late in the first half that ended with touchdowns that put them ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs.