Behind the Mic: Tim Brando Rebuffs SEC Network for Fox Sports; CBS Adds Former Ref Mike Carey to NFL Team

After flirting with ESPN’s SEC Network earlier this month, veteran broadcaster Tim Brando has opted to join Fox Sports for its coverage of college football and college basketball on FOX and FOX Sports 1 beginning this season. Brando was reportedly on his way to SEC Network as a studio host and basketball play-by-play man, but the lure of continuing to call football ended up bringing him to Fox. Brando’s broadcast partner will be released at a later date, according to Fox. Brando, who left CBS Sports in January after 18 years with the network, will continue to host his daily show, The Tim Brando Show, on Sirius XM Radio. He had called the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament since 1996 and served as host of CBS Sports’ College Football Today and At The Half studio shows, did play-by-play for CBS Sports’ NFL coverage for several years and has done play-by-play for Raycom’s coverage of ACC basketball and hosted Raycom’s Emmy Award-winning show Football Saturdays…

…Brando’s arrival comes on the heels of Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel joining FOX Sports’ expanding college sports coverage. Feldman was announced in April as a FOX Sports senior college football reporter & columnist, and Mandel earlier this month as a senior columnist focusing on college football and basketball…

…CBS Sports has added former NFL Official Mike Carey to the broadcast team for coverage of Thursday Night Football on CBS and NFL Network, and The NFL on CBS coverage for the 2014 NFL season.  Carey will provide rules analysis, interpretation and explanations on Thursday nights from the game site, as well as NFL Network’s studio in Culver City, Calif., and on Sundays from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. Carey spent 24 years as an NFL official, including 19 as a referee…

…Fox Sports 1 has tapped future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. to sit down with top current MLB hitters for a new series of specials BIG STICKS WITH KEN GRIFFEY JR. Created by Major League Baseball Productions, the show premiered on Fox Sports 1 with Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz…

…Hall of Fame award-winning broadcaster Bob Uecker is scheduled to make a guest booth appearance with Bob Costas during MLB Network’s MLB Network Showcase between the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals on July 11. The incorrigible Uecker has served as the play-by-play voice of the Brewers since 1971…

…Charissa Thompson and Tracey Edmonds have signed multi-year deals to join Extra as co-hosts alongside Mario Lopez, who has been with the program since 2007. Thompson is currently the co-host of “FOX Sports Live” on FOX Sports 1. Edmonds is an award-winning producer and CEO of the production company Edmonds Entertainment, whose latest project is the hit series “Deion’s Family Playbook” on OWN. The new co-hosts will debut on “Extra” when its 21st season premieres on Sept. 8…

…TSN has added two-time Canadian Screen Award winner Rod Smith as the new host of its CFL ON TSN panel. Smith will be joined by analysts Matt Dunigan, Chris Schultz, Jock Climie, Milt Stegall, and Paul LaPolice. A former offensive lineman for the Queen’s University Golden Gaels, Smith anchored TSN’s studio coverage of CFL in 1997 and has also served as a play-by-play commentator for CFL ON TSN. Smith, who joined TSN in 1987, will resume hosting the 6 p.m. ET edition of SPORTSCENTRE after the CFL season wraps up…

…Former players Je’Rod Chery and Evan Moore from the NFL Boot Camp: Broadcasting class of 2014 will spend one regular-season Sunday working on-air for one of the league’s United Kingdom television partners. The announcement was made at the conclusion of the NFL Boot Camp: Broadcasting, where Cherry (New Orleans, Philadelphia and New England), Moore (Green Bay, Cleveland, Seattle and Philadelphia) and 22 other players spent four days learning from talent, producers and executives from each of the NFL’s broadcast partners. The dates of the assignments will be determined closer to the kickoff of the 2014 NFL season. Last season former NFL players Michael Clayton and Anthony McFarland were selected to serve as studio analysts for an NFL regular-season Sunday on Sky Sports in the U.K. Of the 168 players who took part in NFL Boot Camp: Broadcasting from 2007-2013, more than one-third have earned broadcasting jobs as a result of their participation in the program.