Fox makes major NFL decision with Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson deals
Andrews and Thompson, whose respective contracts expired after the 2024-25 season, will receive lucrative extensions before the start of the next NFL campaign.
The report did not reveal details of the new deals.
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5 Charissa Thompson and Erin Andrews covering Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, as the 2025 game was aired on Fox on February 9.
Instagram/Charissa Thompson
Andrews, 47, and Thompson, 43, who are best friends outside of Fox and co-host the 'Calm Down' podcast together, have yet to publicly address the contract news.
Fox hinted that Andrews would be back after including her in the 2025 regular season-game schedule in May, which included an image of the veteran reporter along with the network's NFL broadcast crew of analyst Tom Brady, play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt and reporter Tom Rinaldi.
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5 Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews broadcasts from the sidelines prior to the NFC Championship NFL football game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium on January 28, 2024 in Santa Clara, California.
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Andrews and Brady represented the network that month at the 2025 Fox Upfronts.
The Wear by EA founder previously 'quietly' re-signed with Fox on a three-year deal, she revealed on the SI Media Podcast in July 2022.
5 Tom Brady and Erin Andrews during the FOX UPFRONT '25 presentation on Monday, May 12, 2025.
Ben Hider/PictureGroup for FOX/Shutterstock
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As for Thompson? She made it clear that she wanted to stay put at Fox while the pair discussed covering Super Bowl 2025, which aired on Fox in February, during a February episode of their podcast.
In April, Thompson addressed 'fake headlines' about her leaving Fox.
'No, I am not leaving Fox. I was never leaving Fox,' she said on the 'Calm Down' podcast. 'I don't know where this took on a life, whereas I was hosting my family here at the ranch this past weekend, four of my family members asked, 'Well the place looks nice, but how are you going to afford it now that you don't have a job?'
5 Charissa Thompson hosting the 'TNF on Prime' pregame show prior to an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on December 12, 2024 in Santa Clara, California.
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'I'm like, 'Why is this headline out here?' It's crazy … I wouldn't normally address this … but I was never leaving Fox. I'm not fired … I hope I die at [Fox]. As I always talk about, Fox is my longest relationship. I have worked there since I was what, 22 years old starting in the HR department. So yes, I love Fox, I will hopefully end my career there in a long, long time. But anyways, it's not ending anytime soon. That's a fake headline.'
Thompson hosts the 'Fox NFL Kickoff' show and a number of NFL Films spots for Fox.
She also hosts Amazon Prime Video's 'Thursday Night Football' pregame show.
5 Charissa Thompson and Erin Andrews during an interview on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' on May 23, 2024.
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Image
Andrews and Thompson often discuss how close they are with their Fox co-workers and how they believe it is a family environment.
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Fox Sports
15 minutes ago
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Chiefs' Rashee Rice Participating in Training Camp Despite Jail Sentence
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16 minutes ago
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The rise and fall of Lloyd Howell at the NFLPA
When the player representatives of the 32 NFL teams gathered at the Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg, Virginia, in 2023 for the two-day meeting at which they would elect a new executive director of the NFL Players Association, they didn't know much about the results of the search process they had authorized the union's executive committee to oversee. They didn't know that the executive committee's finalists for the NFLPA's top job were Lloyd Howell, the former chief financial officer of consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, and David P. White, the former national executive director and chief negotiator for the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). They didn't know what the vetting process conducted by search firm Russell Reynolds Associates and the background report compiled by due diligence firm Mintz Group had — and had not — found about Howell. And they didn't know that the players on the executive committee had voted, 10-1, to recommend White to the player reps as the union's next executive director if they were asked to make a recommendation. 'We held an internal vote before that meeting,' a player who was on the executive committee during the search said Sunday. '… It was never communicated [to the board of player reps]. They made up their own mind. That's what we wanted.' The player reps voted the following day via a single confidential, written ballot to elect Howell to succeed DeMaurice Smith. That June 28, 2023, decision turned out to be ill-fated. Howell resigned Thursday, a little more than two years into his term, amid a string of controversies that brought intense scrutiny and spurred unrest among some players and agents. Some on the players' side are unhappy about the process that led to Howell's election, saying it lacked transparency and failed to make the player representatives aware of warning signs regarding Howell's candidacy before they voted. But as the NFLPA works to elect an interim executive director, perhaps by Monday, and faces the prospect of launching a search for Howell's permanent successor, those involved in the process that led to Howell's election defend it. They say Russell Reynolds conducted a by-the-book search and the executive committee fulfilled its goals to avoid media leaks and put qualified finalists in front of the player reps for their vote, even if the outcome of Howell's tenure was calamitous. According to multiple people familiar with the process, Howell's consulting position at the Carlyle Group and his involvement in a sexual discrimination and retaliation lawsuit in 2011 while at Booz Allen were discussed by the players before his election. 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The firm said it 'was fully transparent with the NFLPA about its findings for each candidate at every interval of the search process.' The firm said it takes issue with any characterization that there was anything improper about one of its employees, Anamika Gupta, subsequently being hired by Howell as the NFLPA's chief of staff. She also was a former Booz Allen employee. 'This individual was a stellar employee who excelled during her eight years at' Russell Reynolds, the firm said. 'She neither knew Mr. Howell during her prior employment at Booz Allen Hamilton nor had any communication with him during the search process. Any suggestion to the contrary is reckless and categorically false.' At the June meeting of player reps, the players were briefed and spent time with Howell and White. Russell Reynolds made presentations about the two candidates. Its organizational psychologist was on hand. The executive committee presented the issues that it wanted raised from the Mintz background report. That's when the player reps were told about the sexual discrimination lawsuit involving Howell. 'Specific to Lloyd, the discrimination lawsuit was a major topic of discussion' with the player reps, the person directly involved in the search said. The Carlyle Group issue was not a major topic of discussion with the player reps, that person said. The players again were warned about media leaks. 'Doors were closed,' the person with direct knowledge of the search said. 'Phones were gone. ... There were ground rules set.' The candidates made two-hour presentations and were made available to the player reps in smaller-group settings. They made final remarks before the vote on the meeting's second day. According to the person involved in the search, the NFLPA hired a third-party auditor to conduct a confidential vote by written ballot. The auditor collected the player reps' ballots and announced Howell as the winner without disclosing a vote count to the players. 'Lloyd won the day,' that person said. 'He gave a very eloquent analysis of what he felt and he saw.'
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Packers get bad news on AFC North title hopes for 2025 NFL season
The Green Bay Packers haven't won the NFC North since 2021, and in the past two years, the Detroit Lions have secured back-to-back division titles. Last season, the Packers did make the playoffs with an 11-6 record, so in Year 3 of Jordan Love, the next step is to win the division finally. Nonetheless, one FS1 personality isn't picking Green Bay. In fact, he's not picking either the Lions or the Minnesota Vikings. On Friday's edition of "First Things First," Nick Wright explained why he sees the Chicago Bears, who are in Year 1 with Ben Johnson as head coach, going from worst to first in the 2025 NFL season. "I don't know if the NFC North is quite as hard this next year as people think it will be, because I think Minnesota is going to take a significant step back because they're starting a rookie quarterback," Wright said. "I also thought last year, Green Bay was a little smoke-and-mirrorsy, and I'm not as intimidated by them as maybe others are. And I am very curious how back-to-back gut-punch end-of-seasons have landed with the Lions." Furthermore, Wright explained why he sees the Bears taking the AFC North. "The Bears hired the coach I wanted them to hire, addressed the part of the team I wanted them to address in the offensive line," Wright added. "And I think Caleb had a better [2024] season than it felt like he was having." More: Steelers predicted to replace Packers legend Aaron Rodgers with 'uniquely built' 27-TD QB Almost every NFL season, one or more teams go from worst to winning the division or at least going from missing the playoffs the previous season to making it the following season. As a result, Wright's take isn't all that wild. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if the Lions, Packers, and Vikings all take a step back this upcoming season, opening the door for the Bears to take the division.
