James Brown ’73 Guides the Conversation, On and Off the Field

n Sunday mornings, James Brown ’73 sits at the center of one of sports media’s most recognizable studio desks, guiding fast-paced conversations about touchdowns, turnovers, and playoff races. For Brown, the longtime host of CBS’s The NFL Today and The James Brown Show, his job has never been just about football.

Brown’s career in broadcasting spans more than four decades. After graduating from Harvard in 1973, he began covering NBA games in 1984. Brown then moved into national TV roles with CBS Sports, where he called NFL and college basketball games and reported on major events, including the NBA Finals and the Olympics.

He later became the face of Fox NFL Sunday before returning to CBS in 2006 to host The NFL Today, a role he has held ever since. A three-time Emmy Award winner, Brown has hosted the Super Bowl a record 10 times and has been inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

“There is the undeniable intersection of sports and culture,” Brown said.

For Brown, the intersection extends beyond the games themselves. It shows up in the way sports reflect, and sometimes amplify, larger conversations about race, politics, and identity.

Throughout the decades that he has spent broadcasting, Brown has become known across America not only for his steady presence but also for his eloquence in the moments when conversations shift. In those instances, when sports highlights evolve into more serious conversations, Brown’s responsibilities extend beyond moderating.

In recent years, Brown has addressed issues like rising antisemitism and fostered broader conversations around racial justice on air. His efforts exemplify times when sports provide a platform for confronting discrimination and navigating history, demonstrating the civic responsibility that public figures have to their audience.

In such circumstances, Brown does not think about ratings, but rather about responsibility.

“I’m not looking for clicks, I’m not looking for acceptance, [or] to have people come pat me on the back. I just want them to say that it was honest, it was fair, it was thoughtful, and something that we ought to talk about and think about ourselves,” he said.

That mindset, Brown explained, did not emerge overnight. It was built in Cambridge. As a student at Harvard, Brown found himself surrounded by people who challenged his thinking in and out of the classroom.

“It was an awesome experience being around so many very brilliant people across the spectrum,” he said.

What stood out most, he recalled, was not just the intensity of the classroom but also the diversity of perspectives on campus, which he believes prepared him for a career built on listening as much as speaking.

“I love the fact that the administration was very intentional in ensuring that they had as diverse a population as possible to prepare us for entering a world that is just that,” Brown said.

That paradigm also shaped the way he thought about his future. Recruited by more than 150 colleges for basketball, Brown ultimately chose Harvard, despite the Ivy League’s absence of athletic scholarships, because of the long-term foundation it offered.

A standout on the court, he was a three-time All-Ivy League selection and finished his career with 1,242 points and 747 rebounds, still ranking among the top performers in program history. He also holds the program record for field goals made in a single game — 18 against Boston University in 1972 — and was later inducted into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame.

That success on the court, Brown explained, went hand-in-hand with the larger purpose his parents had emphasized.

“The only mantra was, go to the best school you possibly can to lay the most solid foundation for success in the game of life,” he said.

Brown’s decision to attend Harvard reflected a lesson that continues to shape his work in sports broadcasting today: success is not just about individual achievement, but about how that achievement is used.

“Everybody is given a gift,” with the hope that “those gifts will be used for the benefit of a whole,” Brown said.

That philosophy shows up most clearly when the conversations move beyond sports. When Brown prepares to address current political, cultural, and social events on air, his process becomes more deliberate. He relies less on stats and storylines and more on doing the work, reading, listening, and speaking directly with relevant communities before going on air.

“I try to keep in mind [to] make certain that I’m relevant in what I’m saying, that I’m speaking to the issues as they really exist,” he explained.

That preparation, Brown said, means getting the facts right and thinking carefully about how to say them.

“I try to make certain that I am factually accurate in stating what the issue is that I’m about to comment on with a very respectful tone,” he added.

It is a careful balance. Brown is acutely aware that many viewers tune in to sports coverage for an escape from politics and controversy.

“There are a number of people who don’t like it, period, because they’re tuning into sports for a getaway,” he explained.

Still, when the opportunity arises for Brown to engage with more controversial topics, he does so deliberately, not to provoke hate or anger, but to invite serious thought and reflection.

“I don’t try to come in a derogatory, demeaning, dictatorial fashion. Who am I to do that?”

Instead, Brown aims to create a space for conversation, one that is grounded in shared principles even across political, cultural, and religious differences. His approach was especially evident in November of 2022, when Brown was asked by network leadership to address rising antisemitism on The NFL Today, following controversy surrounding NBA star Kyrie Irving’s promotion of a film widely criticized for Holocaust denial. Before speaking publicly on television, he made a point of listening to the affected communities.

“I wanted to talk to a number of Jews across the spectrum,” Brown said.

To effectively communicate the seriousness of Holocaust denial, Brown drew a parallel rooted in his own community’s history.

“To suggest that the Holocaust never occurred was akin to saying that many of my forefathers were not lynched, and they were, so that’s why, even as painful and as hurtful as raw as it is, I would dare say we should not try to whitewash what has happened in history,” Brown said. “As the old expression goes, to be ignorant of one’s history lays the groundwork for the possible repeating of such, and that just can’t be.”

This approach has shaped the way Brown does his job on air. Whether moderating a panel on The NFL Today or guiding a conversation that moves beyond the game, he returns to the same goal: to say something meaningful, and to say it in a way viewers are willing to hear.

“I just want them to say that was honest, it was fair, it was thoughtful,” he said.

On Sunday mornings, the conversations move quickly. Segments end, highlights roll, and the broadcast moves forward. Still, James Brown is thinking about something more permanent, the kind of message that can stick with people long after a game is over.

—Staff writer Tamar H. Scheinfeld can be reached at [email protected].