Berman's Contract, USGA Support Means We Have A Year To Prepare For Onslaught Of Merion Puns
/Dan Levy talks to ESPN EVP of Production John Wildhack, who carefully answers questions about why Chris Berman gets plum assignments, most notably the U.S. Open. Wildhack says they have extensive market research suggesting Berman gets mixed reviews but receives some of "the highest awareness and affinity scores that we measure" for NFL Sunday. More importantly, Wildhack says the USGA supports Berman's act.
Currently, the event portion of Chris’ schedule is less than his NFL studio role. With that said, the U.S. Open Golf assignment is something he's been doing for a long time. He is an avid golf fan, knows the sport and players extremely well and the USGA supports his involvement every year.
Levy counters with this:
This is an "agree to disagree" situation for many viewers. Calling a golfer Jason "Bad To The" Bohn is just terrible announcing. Maybe the nicknames and references to old songs still works in the safe haven of his NFL studio show, but it just doesn't play to a sophisticated golf audience, especially not when juxtaposed with the reverential treatment the U.S. Open was given by the likes of Mike Tirico and Scott Van Pelt.
And Levy says Berman remains blissfully unaware of how golf fans feel about his role on the U.S. Open telecast:
To paraphrase an ESPN insider, Berman is so painfully unaware of the public's perception of him that he's even unaware at how unaware he's become. And nobody at ESPN seems willing to tell him about it.
