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A young Noah Eagle would have never believed he’d broadcast a Super Bowl alongside color commentators SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star.

The 2019 Syracuse University graduate is no stranger to big moments. He’s the lead broadcaster for NBC Sports’ Big Ten Saturday Night and Big Ten Basketball on Peacock while also having called NFL contests for FOX Sports and the NFL Network.

Yet Eagle was left starstruck after he met with Syracuse native Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke — the voices of SpongeBob and Patrick, respectively — on Zoom a week before Super Bowl LVIII. For someone who loved “SpongeBob SquarePants” as a kid, it was a full-circle moment.

“I’m walking down the street after the Zoom, and I’m like, ‘Did that really just happen?’” Eagle said.

Eagle called his first-career Super Bowl at the age of 26, leading the crew for Nickelodeon’s first-ever Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 11 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The network has been calling select NFL games since its debut on Jan. 10, 2021, when Eagle broadcasted an NFC Wild Card matchup between the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints.

Nickelodeon games have won over a younger audience and gained national popularity due to their untraditional broadcast style where cartoon characters and video effects like slime cannons play a major role in the viewers’ experience.

Of Super Bowl LVIII’s record-setting 123.7 million average viewers, 1.2 million people tuned into Eagle’s call on Nickelodeon’s kid-oriented broadcast, which was the first-ever domestic alternative television feed of a Super Bowl game. Eagle, who’s called all five Nickelodeon NFL games, said the network’s latest triumph encapsulates the significant strides it’s taken to deliver such a unique format on the sport’s grandest stage.

“I don’t think any of us really anticipated what this would look or sound like going into year one or really what the reception would be,” Eagle said. “We all just went in knowing it was a blank canvas that we got to outline and then paint and fill in the colors. And we got really fortunate that people seemed to enjoy it and it got a response that I think none of us anticipated that it ever would.”

Eagle’s father Ian, an SU alum who has worked at CBS as a commentator since 1998, was at Super Bowl LVIII as well calling the international feed. Though they didn’t see each other before the game, Eagle said, his father gave him advice before he got into the booth.

“Remember who you’re broadcasting to,” Eagle recalled Ian telling him. “Don’t try to make the moment about you doing the Super Bowl. Make that moment about all the kids that are watching it, and make that moment about SpongeBob and Patrick.”

When broadcasting Nickelodeon games, Eagle is forced to alter his preparation. He still types up notes and has a player chart to peer at, but it extends much further.

Eagle rewatches the Nickelodeon cartoons that he grew up with so he can make references to the show and banter with Kenny and Fagerbakke while they’re in character, creating a more entertaining telecast for kids. Through diligent prep, Eagle produced a rolodex of lines to drop throughout the Super Bowl.

After a 74-yard punt, Eagle did his own SpongeBob impression, saying “74” in a similar manner to how SpongeBob says “seventy-four” in a season three episode entitled “New Student Starfish.” When either the Eagles or 49ers started on the 22-yard line, he would start singing Taylor Swift’s “22” — alluding to Swift dating Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce. He even sprinkled in a few references to “Kenan & Kel,” one of his favorite shows growing up.

“It’s just knowing what your audience is wanting,” Eagle said. “We got so many (references) in, but my favorite ones were the ones I could set SpongeBob and Patrick up with and then let them run with it from there.”

In addition to Sandy Cheeks as the sideline reporter and Dora the Explorer as a rules analyst, among others, Eagle said Nate Burleson, his lone non-animated partner, helped bring the most out of the broadcast.

Eagle said Burleson does an “outstanding job” at making the game simple for the audience while providing fantastic energy to the broadcast. He added that Burleson has made preparation easier for him, crediting their strong rapport.

“We’ve had really great chemistry from the start,” Eagle said. “When you work with good people like (Burleson), it’s just automatic.”

While his preparation was heightened, Eagle still stuck to his customary pre-game routine. A day before the Super Bowl, he went to the gym early to clear his mind and assembled his charts in the afternoon. He also watched some more SpongeBob clips and attended rehearsals for the broadcast — something he never has to do on other networks. At night, Eagle took his spotter and statistician to dinner and ice cream, a tradition of his.

Even being thrust into a high-pressure environment, Eagle wasn’t phased to call the Super Bowl. He compared it to rigorous studying for a test. Eagle had prepared all he could for the once-in-a-lifetime setting and was ready to seize the moment.

“I didn’t look at it as, ‘Oh my god, this is the Super Bowl,’” Eagle said. “I looked at it as, ‘Oh, this is another Nick game, this is going to be fun. I just went in and let it rip from there.”

Eagle’s mind bounced around when asked about his favorite moment from the day. He brought up how the game ended in overtime, and how he’s one of few people to call a game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. Yet, Eagle most remembers his emotions after sitting down for the telecast’s opening when SpongeBob and Patrick came on.

Eagle took it all in. He reached the pinnacle of sports broadcasting, all with the network he watched as a child and surrounded by the cartoon characters he once adored.

“There was just this feeling of, ‘Alright, I’m here. I’m doing this. This is really really cool,’ that came over me,” Eagle said.

Published on February 15, 2024 at 1:58 am

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews