NFL pregame shows have been a staple of preparing fans for football weekends for nearly six decades, and while the content may fluctuate between the heavy-handed to the mundane to the serious, the purpose of the shows cannot be overstated, whether viewers agree on what they are being told or not.
“Sunday NFL Countdown” on ESPN has been on the air in some iteration since 1985, starting with legendary broadcaster Chris Berman taking the reins as the host. The network hasn’t broadcast games on Sunday since 2005 when NBC took over the Sunday night package. So the lead-up to the 1 p.m. ET games has to look and feel different than their counterparts on FOX and CBS, which spend one hour each with the pregame shows.
Based at the South Street Seaport Pier 17 complex in lower Manhattan, overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, “Sunday NFL Countdown” has three hours of information, analysis, and features with discussion on the week’s top games and storylines.
The current crew — host Samantha Ponder, with Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss, former players Matt Hasselbeck and Tedy Bruschi, and former coach Rex Ryan as analysts, plus insiders Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen — are completing their fourth season together and by all metrics, the 2022 campaign was the most successful.
Viewership in key demographics, such as 18- to 24-year-olds, was up 13%, female viewership is up 8% and the telecast averaged 1.24 million viewers per show, the most since 2019.
Seth Markman, vice president…
