Why Jim Nantz Isn’t Calling Super Bowl 2025

Football fans tuning in to watch Super Bowl LIX may be confused as to why NFL broadcasting mainstay Jim Nantz isn’t calling the big game — but there’s no need to worry about the legendary CBS Sports personality’s role in the booth moving forward.

Because Super Bowl LIX is being broadcast on FOX, it will be that network’s broadcasting team taking the reigns this year, with lead duo Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady calling the game. This will be Burkhardt’s second Super Bowl as a lead play-by-play announcer, as he previously called Super Bowl LVII, while Brady will be cutting his teeth calling the Super Bowl this year. The athlete-turned-broadcaster has previously taken to the field for 10 league championship games with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning seven of those games.

Tom Rinaldi and Erin Andrews will join as sideline reporters. Andrews has been a sideline reporter at the Super Bowl four times with FOX, and this will be Rinaldi’s second Super Bowl as a sideline reporter.

Nantz, who called his 500th NFL game in January when the Buffalo Bills beat the Denver Broncos in an AFC wild-card round game, has called seven Super Bowls in his career in addition to 431 regular season games and 69 playoff games.

Hitting that milestone, Nantz became the eighth NFL TV play-by-play announcer to reach 500 games, but only the second with all of his games on one network. CBS confirmed at the time that their longtime broadcaster was the first person in the network’s history to hit 500 games.

“That’s a lot of games. It’s just staggering,” Nantz told NBC News last month. “With the historic relationship between the league and CBS that no one else can boast about and to think I have been given the blessing of calling more NFL games play-by-play than anyone in the network’s history, it’s meaningful and something that resonates for me.”

Nantz announced in February 2024 that he had officially retired from calling college basketball games, but clarified at the time that he would continue to be lead play-by-play announcer for the NFL with Tony Romo and would also continue to cover golf for the network.

“I’m not retiring,” Nantz told USA TODAY Sports at the time. “I’ve still got about 40 weeks a year to cover the NFL, the Super Bowl and golf for another dozen years or so.” He explained that his decision to step back from college basketball announcing was so that he would be able to spend more time with his family.