John Madden

In 1994, Madden (and Summerall) signed with Fox after the network bought the rights to football in 1993. He had considered going to ABC for Monday Night Football or NBC (National Broadcasting Company) which also had some football rights. (CBS lost their rights, though they regained some of them in a later deal.) Madden's deal was worth $8,000,000 a year over four years, a testament to his power and popularity as a broadcaster. With his new contract, Madden built his own customized bus, dubbed the Madden Cruiser. In 1998, when the contract expired, Madden signed a five-year deal with Fox, though he again thought about moving to ABC. Madden also continued to make millions per year for endorsements, remaining at the top of his game.

In 2002, after the Super Bowl, Madden and Summerall decided to call it quits as a duo. Summerall had decided to retire from full-time work at Fox (though he did still do regional football broadcasts for the network). After considering his options, Madden finally decided to sign with ABC to do Monday Night Football broadcasts with Al Michaels. Madden was expected to raise the ratings of the show, which had been on the decline for several years.

Madden was well respected as a broadcaster, winning 13 of the 15 Emmy Awards he was nominated for over the course of his career, as well as a number of other awards. He planned to continue working as a broadcaster as long he was physically capable of doing it. He told Michael Silver of Sports Illustrated, "It's fun, and it is my life and my passion and my recreation—it's everything. I was at a golf tournament, and I met a guy who was a year behind me in high school, and he's retiring. I said, 'Let me get this straight: You're retiring, and I just signed a four-year contract. One of us is going in the wrong direction."