John Madden, pictured August 5, 2006, retired from broadcasting Thursday, April 16, 2009, abruptly ending a career that altered the tone and content of sports analysis and made him an iconic, cross-generational media star. (Bob Larson/Contra Costa Times/MCT)
By Neil Best
Newsday
(MCT)
Boom!
Just like that, John Madden retired from broadcasting Thursday, abruptly ending a career that altered the tone and content of sports analysis and made him an iconic, cross-generational media star.
Why now? NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who flew cross-country Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to talk Madden out of it, said he knew his effort would fail when he heard the words, "It's time."
Cris Collinsworth will replace Madden beside Al Michaels for NBC's Sunday night NFL games.
"It's tough," Madden said during an emotional appearance on KCBS radio in San Francisco. "But I strongly feel this is the right time."
Madden said he "vacillated" over the past two months, but wanted to make his decision in advance of the NFL schedule being released last week. He first informed Ebersol on April 7.
Sandy Montag, Madden's agent and close friend for 25 years, said Madden, who turned 73 last Friday, is in excellent health and was in the middle of a six-year contract. He is believed to have earned about $5 million per season.
Madden said in a news release that nearing his 50th wedding anniversary and with his five grandchildren at an age "when they know when I'm home and, more importantly, when I'm not," it was time to give up a career that began in 1979 and included stops at all four major broadcast networks.
His grandchildren range in age from 3 to 8.
"I still love every part of it _ the travel, the practices, the game film, the games, seeing old friends and meeting new people," he said.
Wednesday, Ebersol offered Madden options such as working in September and November while taking October and December, off, but Madden declined.
Montag said one factor in Madden's decision was the weak state of the Raiders and 49ers, near his Bay Area home, which in turn has meant fewer prime-time games involving those teams. That in turn forced Madden into numerous trips to the East Coast _ all by bus, of course.
Madden's lucrative endorsement career will continue, Montag said, including the video game that bears his name and has made him familiar to young athletes and fans beyond his TV work and his prior career as a Super Bowl-winning coach.
Ebersol called Madden "a kind of Everyman," known for making a complex game accessible to fans and for endearing quirks such as his taste for Thanksgiving turducken.
His final game was a critically acclaimed performance at Super Bowl XLIII. But he said going out on TV sports' greatest stage was not a factor in his decision.
There were whispers in some quarters Madden had begun to slip _ notably in a Wall Street Journal story last season that infuriated many at NBC. "That's --- ," Ebersol said of the theory.
Before calling the Yankees' home opener for the MLB Network Thursday, Bob Costas said Madden is "on the very short list of the most significant figures in the history of television sports."
Michaels said in a statement, "Working with John the last seven years (at ABC and NBC) has provided memories I'll always treasure. My only regret is that it wasn't 27."
Madden had been with NBC since 2006. When Collinsworth took his place for one game last season to ease his travel burden, there was speculation a succession plan had begun to take shape.
"I'm not tired of anything, but I'm going away," Madden said on KCBS. "That's what makes it hard."
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© 2009, Newsday.
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