If it feels like it wasn’t that long ago when Jim Nantz and Tony Romo called a Super Bowl, it’s because it wasn’t. Typically, there’s a three-year rotation between Fox, CBS, and NBC when it comes to broadcasting the Super Bowl. This year, CBS skipped the line and will return after doing the game two years ago. It’s all happening because of a trade the network made with NBC.

Super Bowl 55 features the veteran vs. the young gun

Tom Brady is no stranger to Super Bowls. Patrick Mahomes is starting to get used to them. Brady seeks his seventh Super Bowl ring, while Mahomes looks for a repeat as his Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For the first time in history, a team will play a home game in a Super Bowl. The game will be played in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.

In his first year with the Buccaneers, Brady has taken them to Super Bowl 55. It wasn’t easy, but the veteran found away to get back to the big game. Tampa Bay finished the regular season as the fifth seed in the NFC after going 11-5 in the regular season. The Bucs were forced to play three road games in the postseason and won all of them.

It was quite the opposite for the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs, who rallied to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 54, were the top seed in the AFC. Kansas City finished with a 14-2 mark with one of those losses coming in the final week when Mahomes sat out in a meaningless game. The Chiefs won both playoff games at home, defeating the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills.

Jim Nantz and Tony Romo are back in the booth

Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will return to call Super Bowl 55. The CBS duo last called Super Bowl 53 when the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams. With that Patriots victory, quarterback Tom Brady earned his sixth Super Bowl ring. Brady goes for his seventh on Sunday as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This will be Romo’s second Super Bowl. Romo retired from the NFL as the Dallas Cowboys quarterback after the 2016 season. He immediately began work for CBS as the network’s lead color analyst for the 2017 NFL season. In February of 2020, Romo renewed his contract with CBS with the network reportedly paying him $17 million per year.

Nantz is a veteran broadcaster who began with CBS Sports in 1985. He is a five-time NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year and he’s an NSMA Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2021). Nantz called his first Super Bowl in February of 2007 when the Seattle Seahawks met the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 41. This will be Nantz’s sixth Super Bowl call.

Why did CBS and NBC trade Super Bowls?

Typically, it’s a three-year rotation between Fox, CBS, and NBC when it comes to calling Super Bowls. Last year, Fox had the game, and the year before that it belonged to CBS. Super Bowl 55 should be NBC’s turn, but the two networks – CBS and NBC – made a trade and it all revolved around the Olympics.

According to The New York Post, the move was made because NBC wanted to combine its Super Bowl with the 2022 Olympics. It made sense for the network when it came to advertising. Having two huge events back-to-back in one year makes selling advertising easier. NBC would be able to get creative and offer combo deals instead of competing against another network for those same advertisers.

With the trade, CBS won’t have to deal with its Super Bowl going up against the Olympics. Had that happened, advertising would’ve been a problem as CBS would be trying to get some of those same sponsors who were advertising for the Olympics. The deal made sense for both networks, and because of that, there was no compensation involved, according to The Post.