Americans will continue to hear the phrase “Hello, friends” minutes before the start to every major CBS Sports broadcast for the foreseeable future.
That’s because the network’s lead sportscaster Jim Nantz has signed a multi-year contract extension with CBS Sports.
Nantz is the voice of CBS’ NFL broadcasts, NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and The Masters on CBS.
Sports Business Journal previously reported Nantz’s contract renewal.
Jim Nantz is a CBS institution. He has called CBS Sports home since 1985, anchored the network’s Masters coverage since 1989, and has been the lead play-by-play voice for The NFL on CBS since 2004. He has called six Super Bowls for CBS Sports.
In 2007, Nantz became the first commentator in history to complete the rare broadcasting three-feat – calling the Super Bowl, the NCAA Men’s Final Four and the Masters all in a span of 63 days. Nantz once again repeated this trifecta in 2010, 2013 and 2016. In 2019, Nantz completed an even rarer quintet, calling the AFC Championship, Super Bowl, Final Four, Masters, and PGA Championship in a span of 120 days.
In August 2011 Nantz became the youngest recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. Nantz also was honored in 2002 by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as its youngest recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award.
The announcement comes as Nantz is in the midst of calling March Madness contests for CBS, and it comes a week after the network extended its NFL broadcast rights deal. As part of that deal, CBS keeps rights to the AFC package, and CBS will broadcast the Super Bowl in 2023, 2027 and 2031.