NEW ORLEANS – Terry Bradshaw is one of few men in this world who has spent lots of time with the Lombardi Trophy, from the four Super Bowls he won as quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers to his job as FOX’s presenter of the trophy to the winning team.
Super Bowl 59 Sunday could mark the final time Bradshaw has his hands on the Lombardi in an official capacity.
Bradshaw, 76, has two years remaining on his contract with FOX – the same contract that stipulates he gets to host the trophy ceremony and not a FOX teammate such as Tom Brady, for example.
The Hall of Famer teased a timeline for his retirement from television work.
‘It’s a young man’s game, I get that. Everybody wants the new thing,” Bradshaw said Thursday at FOX Media Day.
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The next time FOX hosts the Super Bowl will be in 2029. Bradshaw said going out after that one would be ‘time.’
‘That’s 80 years old,’ he said, ‘and that’s pushing it.’
Since Super Bowl 30, the Lombardi Trophy presentation has been done on a constructed stage brought onto the playing field. Bradshaw has done the honors for FOX every time except for Super Bowl 48, when Michael Strahan had the honors.
The last time Bradshaw did it, two years ago, he created a mess by telling Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid to ‘waddle on over here’ and ‘have a cheeseburger on us.’
‘I caught hell for that,’ Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw added that he apologized to Reid, who took the remarks in good humor.
Bradshaw told People that as teams relish in the moment of winning the Super Bowl, he has a strategy during the trophy-presentation interviews.
‘I’ll ask a fun question or I’ll do something that gets them involved in the telecast,’ Bradshaw said. ‘I’ll try to have some fun with them… ask something that’s a little light.
‘You don’t want to get too heavy at that. It’s not a time for that. I just try to do a clean job. That’s pretty much it. It’s really not that tough. Really, I enjoy it. I enjoy it.’