There were teary goodbyes, emotional farewells and soulful soliloquies. Good Morning Football is now on hiatus until sometime this summer, when a revamped version of NFL Network’s signature studio show will air from the league’s Los Angeles headquarters.
And still, there are way more questions than answers. Jamie Erdahl is the only host who’s explicitly said she’s remaining with the irreverent program, while her colleagues are more cryptic. On Friday, Kyle Brandt delivered a gooey farewell from the streets of Manhattan, dressed in an “I Love NY” pullover.
Observant viewers will notice Brandt wore a black sweatshirt, which probably isn’t a coincidence. Friday was a funeral for GMFB from New York City.
But not for the show itself…right?
“This is New York, and this has been our playground, and I’m very sad to leave it,” said Brandt. “On a playground, you have friends, and they are now friends we don’t get to play with anymore. These are people I say ‘good morning’ to before even speaking to my wife.”
Indeed, it’s apparent that some crew members won’t make the cross-country move. As Brandt mentioned, he’s been with GMFB since its inception in August 2016, and breaking up with longtime colleagues is seldom easy.
But studio shows experience turnover all of the time, including GMFB. The show lost its two signature personalities, Kay Adams and Nate Burleson, over the last couple of years, and the on-air water works were largely kept at bay.
GMFB‘s prolonged NYC farewell tour, and the sorrowful monologues that came along with it across multiple weeks, indicate there’s something insidious at play.
At least, there has to be, right? Why else would there be so much carrying on?
Kyle Brandt addresses Good Morning Football's uncertain future as the show signs off from New York City for the final time.
"Candidly, I have a lot of questions myself. Here's what I know: I personally will be intensely involved in Good Morning Football moving forward. And I… pic.twitter.com/SBkYV8vH7r
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 29, 2024
I really like GMFB but we’ve buried presidents and British royals with shorter goodbyes and less fanfare https://t.co/xncsGyZ0ib
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) March 30, 2024
Most dramatic studio move in history. https://t.co/VLdpZSwrWZ
— Dave Cullinane (@davecullinane) March 29, 2024
While Brandt said he’ll remain “intensely involved” in the program, he stopped short of saying he’ll be joining Erdahl in LA. Peter Schrager told viewers he’s going to keep talking football, but didn’t elaborate on where.
Jason McCourty, meanwhile, sidestepped the topic during his goodbye address.
“When it continues on the West Coast, everyone has asked about the four of us, and whether we’re going to be there or not,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of people behind the scenes that won’t have an opportunity to go to LA, and those are the people who have been very close to me over the last 20 months.
“This has truly been a remarkable 20 months for me, and I can’t wait to see what comes in the future.”
Will that future include GMFB? He won’t say!
https://twitter.com/JasonMcCourty/status/1773776151321739576
GMFB‘s cross-country move is taking place during a turbulent time at NFL Media. Despite the NFL now approaching $12 billion in annual revenue, the league is slashing its media assets.
Last year, NFL Network laid off about 5 percent of its staff and was criticized for doing so in the wake of new sources of revenue. Early this year, Andrew Marchand reported ESPN and the NFL were in “advanced talks” that would give the league an equity stake in the Disney-owned property, but nothing has materialized as of yet.
Perhaps the relocation of GMFB is linked to the possible merger, though it’s worth noting that ESPN is thinking about shuttering its LA studio by 2025.
Whatever the case, it’s obvious the NFL isn’t prioritizing GMFB as a product. The show is going on hiatus with the NFL Draft just three weeks away, and its return date is unknown.
The timing is bizarre on the surface, especially considering NFL Network’s recent ratings uptick. Last season, Good Morning Footballposted its highest regular-season viewership since 2017, an increase of 16 percent year-over-year. NFL GameDay, another studio show, enjoyed historic viewership numbers as well.
But those mask the current media landscape, which continues to get worse for the cable business. NFL Network has lost over 20 million subscribers over the last decade, with many cable customers cutting the cord or switching to cheaper packages that don’t include the diminished channel.
With the NFL shifting Thursday Night Football to Amazon Prime for $1 billion annually, NFL Network now only exclusively carries early morning games from London and a few late-season Saturday night specials. The idea of shifting playoff games to NFL Network is no longer viable, either. It makes much more financial sense for the league to shift playoff games to outside streaming services, like Peaco*ck. NBCUniversal paid the NFL $110 million to air an AFC Wild Card game.
Given the ubiquity of NFL coverage, the league-owned network is far from a destination for football fans. Back in 2003, the concept of offering wall-to-wall NFL programming was revolutionary.
Now, basically every sports show is following that model, with some LeBron talk thrown in.
One piece of news regarding GMFBthat’s been lost in the hysteria is the NFL’s plan to syndicate the series, with Sony Pictures disturbing a two-hour version to multiple partners. That means GMFB, or some iteration of it, will likely air alongside daytime infomercials and other prerecorded programs on local networks.
Syndicating GMFB is a revenue win for NFL Media, though the condensed format could take away some of the show’s pizzazz. As Brandt and his colleagues reminded us, there’s something magical about hosting a live morning show from the heart of NYC.
Putting together syndicated offerings from a studio in Inglewood, Calif. doesn’t carry the same kind of flash. Good Morning Footballis continuing, but this ride is apparently over. There seems to be more change coming up than a swap in locations.
We just don’t know what.
