Jump to content

RIP Irv Cross


DrPhilly
 Share

Recommended Posts

One of the staples of the NFL on CBS when I was growing up.  Twice a pro bowl CB with the Eagles.

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The NFL Today was the best football pregame show. Irv Cross was really great on it, too.  RIP.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sad to hear.  He was part of the NFL Today show in the 80s... with Brent Musberger and Jimmy the Greek.  "You are looking live... "   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome guy and awesome talent. TY for sharing your talents with us. RIP, Irv.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those were the days when CBS was the premier network covering the NFL. It's crazy how things have changed over the years with the NFL contracts. Most of the good CBS football guys moved to Fox when CBS lost their coverage. Then when CBS got a contract again, they ended up getting a bunch of the NBC rejects and now they're hard to watch at times.

I already missed Irv Cross as an analyst. It's always sad to lose somebody to time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

CBS had the NFC back then because they showed NFL games prior to the merger. NBC owned rights to broadcast AFC games and AFL before then.

ABC had MNF.

Sometime during the 1990's the TV deals expired or the NFL became the most viewed sport in the U.S and they restructured the tv contracts.

FOX purchased broadcast rights for the NFC for a boatload of cash. CBS bought the AFC and NBC was SOL for a while.

In my opinion the NFL saw that things were changing and the MLB was starting to drop in popularity and took advantage of that negotiating the huge TV contracts.

This is starting to drift off topic but I haven't watched a baseball game on TV since 1995 and haven't attended a game since 1993. i never saw the interior of Citizens Bank Park in person or on tv. I do not miss it at all. I would now put baseball in the same sporting categories as golf and bowling as far as athletic abilities of the participants.

It's really crazy because for approximately 30 years prior to 1995 baseball was as much my favorite sport as football. Now the majority of my thoughts about baseball are organizing wiffleball games in the yard or joining a men's softball league.(do they even exist anymore)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Iggle_nj said:

CBS had the NFC back then because they showed NFL games prior to the merger. NBC owned rights to broadcast AFC games and AFL before then.

ABC had MNF.

Sometime during the 1990's the TV deals expired or the NFL became the most viewed sport in the U.S and they restructured the tv contracts.

FOX purchased broadcast rights for the NFC for a boatload of cash. CBS bought the AFC and NBC was SOL for a while.

In my opinion the NFL saw that things were changing and the MLB was starting to drop in popularity and took advantage of that negotiating the huge TV contracts.

This is starting to drift off topic but I haven't watched a baseball game on TV since 1995 and haven't attended a game since 1993. i never saw the interior of Citizens Bank Park in person or on tv. I do not miss it at all. I would now put baseball in the same sporting categories as golf and bowling as far as athletic abilities of the participants.

It's really crazy because for approximately 30 years prior to 1995 baseball was as much my favorite sport as football. Now the majority of my thoughts about baseball are organizing wiffleball games in the yard or joining a men's softball league.(do they even exist anymore)?

Everything changed around 1992 when Jerry Jones took over the TV negotiating.  

Lawrence Tisch (who at the time headed CBS) was actually looking to cut what it was paying the NFL at the time for TV rights as CBS was losing money on their deal.  He figured in 1993 the NFL would take $250 Million a year for the new package beginning in '94 because that was what they had been taking.  What he didn't count on was those who traditionally handled the TV negotiations being thrown out of that and Jones inviting FOX, which at the time was still a fledgling network to the table.  FOX was willing to pay WAY more than CBS was and the rest was history, with FOX taking over the NFC package that allowed them to build what would become FOX Sports.  That, and then getting NHL rights (shared with ESPN) in 1995 and MLB in '96 solidified FOX Sports.

CBS losing the NFC had a massive ripple effect on the network that was an unintended consequence of Tisch being cheap at the time.  As soon as CBS's NFL deals expired, many longtime CBS affiliates switched their affiliations to FOX, including most notably in Detroit.  Many replacements for CBS affiliates lost were on inferior spots on the TV dial, especially on UHF (remember, cable TV didn't have the penetration it does now in a lot of areas and this was well before television went digital in 2009).  That cost CBS dearly, especially in late night, as this was the real reason Jay Leno was able to take over the top spots in the ratings from David Letterman as in many areas, the CBS station was on a channel many could not get locally.  CBS having a weak prime time lineup also didn't help, but the ratings loss had WAY more to do with CBS losing many longtime affiliates to FOX when FOX got the NFL

FOX's getting the NFL also coincided with the baseball strike that ended the 1994 season.  That made the NFL into the 800-pound gorilla of sports to where CBS got back in the game with the AFC package in 1998 (by then, CBS had merged with Westinghouse and new management took over) because NBC was losing nine figures annually on its NFL package.  Even with that, however, the damage was done to CBS and it took a long time before Letterman regained the top of the ratings.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for that follow up, I didn't know Jones was the driving force behind the TV negotiations. Just read up on an interesting part of NFL history. I also did not remember that CBS was left without NFL for a couple years.

Just read that Fox paid 100 million more per season than CBS was offering at the time. I think CBS got complacent because they had been showing NFL since the 1950's. Jones was a new owner and didn't have any existing relationships with CBS TV execs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...