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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Report: Kevin Burkhart To Replace Joe Buck At Fox Sports


Nearly 20 years ago, Kevin Burkhardt was in New Jersey selling Chevys, trying to make ends meet with his sportscasting career in neutral.

He eventually got a break with WCBS and WFAN Radio before ending up as the Mets’ sideline reporter for SNY. This led to Fox Sports, where he has been the host of the World Series and its No. 2 NFL play-by-player.

Now, Burkhardt will be named the No. 1 voice on Fox’s NFL games, The NY Post has learned. Burkhardt and Fox are finalizing a new long-term contract, according to sources, that will make him the voice of the network’s Super Bowls.

This means Burkhardt will be on the call for two of the next three Super Bowls, including Super Bowl LVII next Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona

Burkhardt is replacing Joe Buck. After nearly three decades, which included 24 World Series and six Super Bowls, Buck left Fox to join Troy Aikman on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” While Fox wanted to keep Buck — it offered him a new $12 million a year deal — the network felt confident that Burkhardt could be its answer. Now, he will be.

Whom Burkhardt will team with on the network’s No. 1 NFL team remains to be seen. A leading candidate is Greg Olsen. In a well-received rookie year, Olsen partnered with Burkhardt on Fox’s No. 2 team behind Buck and Aikman.

Burkhardt, 48, graduated from William Paterson University in 1997 with the hopes of being a sportscaster. He spent four years calling minor league baseball and eight years working at 1,000-watt WGHT 1500 AM in northern New Jersey.

Around 2004-05, he received his first big break doing updates as a part-timer on WCBS-Radio. At that time, he needed to make more money and picked up the side gig selling cars. His boss in Pine Belt, New Jersey’s Chevy dealership, Mike Trebino, allowed him to have flexible hours to continue on WCBS.

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