Fox’s Olsen, Burkhardt Share Unlikely Bond Dating Back Decades
The broadcast duo has a uniquely intertwined history that will come together in a spectacular way at Super Bowl LVII.
Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen will handle the Super Bowl LVII broadcast responsibilities on Sunday evening, capping off the duo’s first year together in the booth as Fox’s lead NFL broadcast pairing. Although the two will get the chance to add their voices to the most-watched television event of the year, their relationship with one another dates back well before their time on the air.
Back before Olsen blossomed into an All-Pro tight end and later a television analyst, he used to dismantle opposing defenses at Wayne Hills High School in New Jersey, where his father, Chris Olsen, served as head coach. While the Olsens were down on the field, Burkhardt was just starting out in sports broadcasting at WGHT-AM and actually covered some of Greg’s high school games.
“It’s absurd,” Burkhardt said of the early link between himself and Olsen, per Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.
Chris Olsen even took such a liking to Burkhardt, who also conducted interviews with Greg early in his football career, that he invited the young broadcaster over to the high school on some Monday afternoons to watch film.
“Kevin always says it was his first experience with a production meeting,” Greg Olsen joked, per Marchand.
That’s not the only connection between the two broadcast partners. When Olsen wanted to make way for the booth after his playing days were done, he had to audition with for the job with Fox Sports.
His play-by-play partner for the audition? Burkhardt.
“‘Are you familiar with Kevin Burkhardt?’” Olsen recalled to Marchand of a question asked to him by a Fox executive. “I’m like, ‘Of course, I’m familiar with Kevin Burkhardt. I’ve known him for a long time.’”
Burkhardt had a similar reaction when hearing Olsen was coming in for an audition.
“I was like, ‘Get the hell out of here,’” he said.
After their long-and-winding path, which intersected on more than one occasion, Burkhardt and Olsen will take on their biggest broadcast together on Sunday. Super Bowl LVII between the Chiefs and Eagles will kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET and air on Fox.