Report: Kevin Burkhardt ‘Clear Favorite’ to Take Over as Fox’s Top NFL Announcer

He’s a rising star, and the network’s No. 1 football play-by-play spot has opened up.

Joe Buck is set to leave Fox after 28 years to take over ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast, alongside his longtime broadcast partner Troy Aikman. That leaves a major hole in Fox’s broadcast lineups for both football and baseball.

New York Post sports media reporter Andrew Marchand has been on top of the Buck news and shared where things stand for Fox, which has to now replace its iconic football duo and the longtime voice of the World Series.

On the football side, Kevin Burkhardt is the “clear favorite” to become Fox’s No. 1 play-by-play voice. Other rival networks are ponying up for big names like Jim Nantz (CBS), Buck (ESPN) and Mike Tirico (NBC), and there is potential for Amazon to land Al Michaels for its Thursday package, Fox could go in a new direction and bring along Burkhardt, who has been a popular lower-tier NFL broadcaster for the network since 2013.

Burkhardt was paired with former Panthers and Bears tight end Greg Olsen last year, and the two could step up into the Buck/Aikman slot, giving Fox a much more inexpensive but still popular booth compared to the other networks. While ESPN could spend upwards of $50 million year on Buck, Aikman and the Manningcast, Burkhardt and Olsen currently earn around $3-$4 million, according to Marchand. 

The network may still kick the tires on Al Michaels, who has not finalized a deal with Amazon and was reportedly in the mix at ESPN before the Buck deal, per the report.

Marchand also raises the possibility that Fox goes after Tom Brady or NBC’s Drew Brees for the top analyst role, while Sean Payton remains in discussions, though more likely to join the network’s studio coverage. He also mentions Joel Klatt but says it is unlikely Fox moves him off of college football. 

On the baseball side, 34-year-old Joe Davis is considered the favorite to take over for Buck. Davis has been with Fox since 2014 and also calls Dodgers games for SportsNet LA. Fox’s Adam Amin, ESPN’s Dan Shulman and MLB Network’s Matt Vasgersian are also potential candidates, per Marchand.

On Friday, Buck’s wife Michelle Beisner-Buck confirmed his move to ESPN, which has not yet been announced by the network. Marchand reports that Fox will let Buck out of his contract a year early, and will receive compensation—including an earlier Big Ten game pick over ESPN—for the move.