This issue will look at how much television sportscasters earn. It's surprisingly little for anyone but the top sports announcers and analysts. According to a survey of 317 sports anchors at television stations around the country, the median salary in 1994 was $30,875 (half of the respondents made more, half less). The average or mean salary was $44,070. Salaries ranged from $12,000 to $400,000.
Salaries went up as the number of fulltime staffers at the station increased. The median salary for sports anchors at stations with ten staffers or less was $18,750. It increased to $23,135 for those at stations with 11 to 20 people, $29,560 for those at stations with 21 to 30 people, $43,700 at stations with 31 to 50 people, and jumped to $91,250 at stations with 51 or more fulltime staffers. (1)
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage in 1996 for radio and television announcers (in all fields, not just sports) was $7.98 an hour and the average (mean) wage was $11.61 an hour. Thirty percent of the 57,400 people employed in the industry made under $11,960 a year. Another 25% made between $11,960 and $17,659 a year. (2)
Sportscasters on network broadcasts earn more, but unless they have fulltime contracts, they don't earn all that much. The pay for being an CBS analyst during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics was relatively little. Paul Robbins (the only one out of 15 analysts who wasn't a former Olympian or ex-athlete) made about $3,500 for his commentary on cross-country skiing. Jim Rippey, a professional snowboarder, was paid $5,000 by CBS and a bonus of $10,000 from his sponsor, Burton Snowboards, for covering snowbaording. Randy Bartz (1994 Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000-meter short-track relay) earned $6,000 as the short-track speedskating commentator. Park Smalley (former U.S. ski team freestyle coach) made $12,000 as the freestyle ski analyst. Jeff Hastings, the ski jump analyst (he was a four-time U.S. champion), was paid $14,000. Bonnie Warner received $28,000 to discuss luge. (She was the U.S. women's luge champion four times, has previous broadcast experience, and is currently a pilot for United Airlines.) At the high end were the figure skating analysts, who were paid approximately $50,000. (3)
For the 1998 Winter X Games it was reported that ESPN paid mountain biker Missy Giove $1,000 a day to serve as an on-air commentator. (4)
The serious money starts to come into play for sportscasters who hold important positions within their networks' sports lineups. Top sportscasters earn $1 million a year or more. Even second and third-tier football analysts and play-by-play announcers earn in the $300,000 to $600,000 a year range. "It would seem silly for [the networks] to spend billions on getting the NFL and then try to save hundreds of thousands and not get the people they want," said Arthur Kaminsky, head of the New York-based Marquee Group and the agent for a number of broadcasters, including Chris Berman, Al Michaels, and Dan Dierdorf. "The guys at the very top level are extremely good and there is competition for their services. In this business, you want the best people you can get." (5)
Here are some reported salaries:
Most sports journalists work exclusively for one network, but in some sports, such as tennis, announcers and analysts have worked for several simultaneously. Mary Carillo has covered the U.S. Open for CBS, worked Wimbledon for NBC and HBO, and the Olympics for NBC. Similarly, John McEnroe has worked for NBC, CBS, and USA.
"Tennis has evolved to a sport where announcers, particularly analysts, have crossed over to other networks," said Ross Greenburg, an executive producer with HBO. "There is an unwritten rule that you can work for a variety of networks in the sport because it's unlike the others where there's a network exclusivity and a cable exclusivity." (24)
"If you're doing the NFL and four other networks are also
doing it, you don't want your people working somewhere else,"
said Bob Mansbach, who produced CBS's U.S. Open coverage. "It's
not like we're going up against other tennis during that same
period. We want NBC to have a good Wimbledon. It helps keep up
interest in the game, and if there's interest, it helps the ratings.
When something is good for the sport, you don't root against them."
(25)