Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 28, 1994                   TAG: 9401280037
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Medium

FOX MAKES IT OFFICIAL, HIRES 3 MORE FROM CBS

On Thursday, the upstart television network unveiled three more major hirings from CBS. And the three were among the older network's major players in NFL coverage: play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall, studio analyst Terry Bradshaw and senior producer Ed Goren.

"We may be an expansion team," Goren said, "but by the end of the season, we're going to be a Super Bowl team."

Summerall, who had been at CBS for 32 years, was known to be going to Fox to join his broadcast partner of 13 years, John Madden, as the network's top announcing team next season. Fox made it official Thursday, and announced the hiring of Goren, who will become Fox's executive producer.

Bradshaw, co-host with Greg Gumbel of CBS' "NFL Today" show, will be one of the hosts of Fox's hour-long pregame show.

Fox bid $1.58 billion over four years for the TV rights to the coveted National Conference package, knocking CBS out of the football picture for the first time in 38 years. Madden, CBS' top analyst, was the first to leave, joining Fox on Monday for a four-year deal reportedly worth $32 million.

Fox officials made it clear that the NFL will be a year-round operation on the 7-year-old network, with additional programming during the summer and perhaps even some NFL players showing up in Fox programs.

Emmitt Smith, meet Al Bundy.

"Clearly, we're going to add programming that keeps football fresh 12 months a year," said George Krieger, executive vice president of Fox Sports.

"Our first priority is not to remake the game," Goren said, although Fox plans new graphics and animation, as well as more of a technological commitment to the lesser games each Sunday.

"The real difference you're going to see is on games two through seven," he said. "You never see the super slo-mo on games five and six, but that's a marvelous thing. That's what we're trying to put together."

Summerall, Bradshaw and Goren would not reveal their financial deals with Fox. It has been reported that Summerall received a four-year deal worth about $6.4 million.

Susan Kerr, a CBS Sports spokeswoman, said the announcement was expected.

"As individuals, we wish them well," she said. "But we will be competitive against them this fall."

However, CBS is abandoning the NFL completely, she added, revealing that the network has dropped plans to continue its pregame show.

Krieger said the network probably would hold off on further hirings for 60 days, but it's inevitable that more people from CBS will be heading to Fox.

One might be reporter Lesley Visser, whose CBS contract expires Sept. 1.

"I've covered the NFL for 15 years and I want to continue to cover the NFL," Visser said Wednesday. "I've heard from some people."