Good Morning Football
It was May of 2016, and the NFL Network was planning to launch a new, football meets popular culture morning show in August of that same year. However, despite the aggressive four-month timeline we had to launch, the available details for said new show were few and far between.
And one of the leads of our network graphics team was getting frantic. Very frantic.
“What the f*** is going on with this new show in New York!?!”
“What new show in New York?”
“The new morning talk show!”
“Huh. This is the first I’m hearing about it. Why are you cursing about it?”
“Because we should’ve f****** started months ago on the massive graphics package this show will need, and everyone I ask keeps f****** sending me in f****** circles!”
Obviously, my role as an executive producer hadn’t started off exactly as I would have liked. I went to my boss to ask about the project.
“If you want to help oversee things, go for it,” he said. “Just try not to step on too many landmines.”
I soon found out that the television production company that had partnered with NFLN to make the series was at a bit of a standstill. The network was waiting on them to start the production process, and they in turn were waiting for the network to start working with them. The senior executives on both sides were communicating, but the people below them at both companies were wondering when the other might reach out to start the process of producing the show. We were in somewhat of a Catch 22.
The general direction was this: a daily, year-round, three-hour morning talk-show with a more relaxed and fan-focused approach than other NFL talk-shows. The main focus would be the NFL, but the show would also feature NFL-adjacent news and pop culture content with which fans both avid and casual could enthusiastically connect. It would be NFL for all!
Sure, it sounded great, but we had to figure out how to get it off the ground.
Like I was slowly untangling a big ball of yarn, I began pulling at loose ends to see where they would lead.
“When do you want to have test shows?”
“The show premieres on August 1st. So… July?”
“Ok great, let’s work backwards from there.”
Wanting to avoid the landmines about which my boss had previously warned me, I continued to ask questions, listen, help find answers, and then take steps to complete the next item on the agenda.
“When do you want to look at set design ideas? Hang and focus the lights? Finalize talent? Start booking guests? Decide what kind of news to include? Start working on the graphics? Figure out the workflows for editing? Shoot promos?”
The paint on the set was still wet when the show premiered on August 1st. Without even a single proper test show, we basically threw a Hail Mary, launching that first episode of Good Morning Football at its audience, and hoping it would make the right connection.
It worked. Hosted by the super talented foursome of Kay Adams, Kyle Brandt, Nate Burleson, and Peter Schrager, co-hosted by news anchor Will Selva, and staged on a knockout set designed by Jeff Hall, it all just clicked. Our first episode was a big success, and it only continued to get better from there. Plus, the fans were crazy for it. Good Morning Football allowed players and coaches to come on the air and be a little more honest and real with both our hosts and their fans. And it opened the door for celebrities to join the conversation too, talking about their own love affairs with the NFL. Overall, the show created a space where football and pop culture could easily intermingle, and where the fans could get their fill of both. It was magical!
So, we took it to the Super Bowl. And then The Draft. And then to London for the International Games. The fans couldn’t get enough of it! And eventually, GMFB made its way all the way to Nashville for The Draft of 2019, where it broadcast an entire week of shows directly from the stage of Music City’s iconic honky-tonk, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.
From there, it went on to be nominated for the “Best Sports Daily Show” Sports Emmy Award three times, and in April of 2022, the show finally won: Best Sports Daily Show.
I didn’t conceptualize or cast the show. That essential and exceptional work was done by executive producers Jordan Levin, Mark Quenzel, and Michael Davies. My role was to figure out how to connect people and jumpstart communication so that an army of super-talented individuals could finally get going.
If there is one thing I have learned along the way, it’s that at the end of the day the strength of your concept and talent isn’t worth much if you don’t get your project management and execution right.
Fortunately there were some very talented execs (Craig Germain, Jen Love, Jen Simons, Mike Muriano, Stephanie Masarsky, and Tim Brown) on the team. Launching a huge daily series like this takes a village and this show has had a great one since the beginning.