NFL On NBC - History - 1980s - See Also

See Also

• The Drive

• The Epic in Miami

• Freezer Bowl

• The Fumble – Dick Enberg, the play-by-play announcer of the television broadcast on NBC, noted: "And wasn't it ironic that Denver got the ball back on the 2-yard-line? Wasn't it just 1 year ago where the Broncos were on their own 2 before putting together what became 'The Drive'?"

• Red Right 88

• Super Bowl XV – Super Bowl XV featured Dick Enberg handling the play-by-play duties and color commentators Merlin Olsen, John Brodie, and Len Dawson (who wasn't in the broadcast booth with Enberg and Olsen). Bryant Gumbel and Mike Adamle of NFL '80 anchored the pregame, halftime and postgame coverage.

• Super Bowl XVII – Super Bowl XVII featured Dick Enberg handling the play-by-play duties and color commentator Merlin Olsen in the broadcast booth. Len Berman and his NFL '82 castmates, Mike Adamle, Ahmad Rashad and Pete Axthelm anchored the pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. As previously mentioned, NBC's national Nielsen rating of 48.6 was the second-highest for a Super Bowl broadcast, trailing only the 49.1 garnered by Super Bowl XVI on CBS the year before. Following the game, NBC aired the premiere episode of The A-Team, beginning the tradition of the game's host network airing programming after the game.

• Super Bowl XX – Super Bowl XX featured play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg and color commentators Merlin Olsen and Bob Griese (who was not in the booth with Enberg and Olsen). While Dick Enberg, Merlin Olsen and Bob Griese called the game, Bob Costas and his NFL '85 castmates, Ahmad Rashad and Pete Axthelm anchored the pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. The Last Precinct debuted on NBC after the game.

• Super Bowl XXIII – Super Bowl XXIII featured Dick Enberg handling the play-by-play duties and color commentator Merlin Olsen in the broadcast booth. This would be Olsen's final Super Bowl broadcast, as he was demoted the following season to make room for Bill Walsh. Bob Costas along with Gayle Gardner hosted the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage with analysts Paul Maguire and then-Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula, pregame roving reporter Jim Gray (who was also working as a researcher for NBC Sports at the time) and Marv Albert, who interviewed Boomer Esiason after the game. Meanwhile during NBC's pregame coverage, Ahmad Rashād and John Candy hosted the Diet Pepsi Talent Challenge at the Miami Seaquarium. Also, Frank Deford delivered a special segment profiling recently deceased Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney. This was also the first NFL game that NBC covered with their new "Quantel Cypher" graphics system, which was introduced during their coverage of the 1988 Seoul Olympics (they had used Chyron for their graphics prior to Super Bowl XXIII). NBC also introduced their "cursive font" logo during this broadcast. Before, it was just the 1986 peacock logo with "NBC SPORTS" in their generic corporate font. With the win, the 49ers became the first team to win Super Bowls televised on three different networks (CBS-XVI, ABC-XIX, and NBC). Since then, the Washington Redskins (in 1992), the Green Bay Packers (in 1997), the Pittsburgh Steelers (in 2006) and the New York Giants (in 2008) have accomplished this same feat. This was the last outdoor Super Bowl to start earlier than 6 pm Eastern Standard Time, as it started just after 5 pm The movie Brotherhood of the Rose aired after the game.