TERRY BRADSHAW SIGNS FOX EXTENSION, SAYS CAREER NEARING END

Terry Bradshaw has confirmed signing a new contract with Fox, while acknowledging that his career as a television sports broadcaster is "coming to an end". The former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, who presents NFL coverage for the network, told NBC News Daily his new deal is an extension running through the Super Bowl, two more years of work. He said this was the first year he had felt nervous, without explaining why. Quoting the evangelist Billy Graham, he said: "The day you retire is the day you start dying."

Bradshaw joined Fox in 1994 for the launch of its first NFL pregame programme, riding onto the set on horseback dressed as a cowboy and declaring "new frontier, same game". He was diagnosed with clinical depression in the late 1990s, after experiencing emotional lows he struggled to understand. He later received two cancer diagnoses, bladder cancer and Merkel cell carcinoma, which he kept private for months during 2021 and 2022. Viewers raised concerns about his on-air performances before he disclosed the Merkel cell carcinoma diagnosis.

Bradshaw's remarks do not amount to a retirement announcement, since he linked the comment about his career ending directly to the contract he had just signed. He did not say what had caused his nervousness this year, and he did not suggest Fox was planning to replace him. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on 11 October, he was asked directly whether it was time to make way for a younger broadcaster, but gave no confirmation of plans to step down. Under the new contract, he is committed to presenting for Fox for two further years, after which he will turn 80.