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Markus Kuhn of the Giants warms up
before playing against the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Saturday, August 18,
2012. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Seid ihr
bereit für etwas football?
If
you can understand that question (translation: Are you ready for some
football?) and answer in the affirmative, then Markus Kuhn is your guy.
The former Giants defensive lineman who
once even scored a touchdown in a regular-season game has become one of the
main voices of the NFL. In Germany and neighboring countries such as Austria and
Switzerland, anyway.
Giants defensive tackle Markus Kuhn looks on
from the field during the second day of minicamp at the Quest Diagnostics
Training Center on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van
Dyke
Kuhn and fellow German-born
NFL player Sebastian Vollmer broadcast some of the biggest games from the U.S.
back to Europe for the streaming service DAZN, covering and in some instances
introducing the sport to about 20 millions fans there each week.
They’ve covered Super Bowls. They’re covering this weekend’s
Patriots-Chiefs game. They cover every Monday Night Football game. And on
Monday, they’ll be covering the Giants and the Eagles.
“We’re obviously not learned broadcasters or commentators,” Kuhn
said. “We’re just able to give a new fan base a completely different
perspective to the game. The way we do our broadcast is obviously very
different than the American ones.”
Right down to the fact that, usually, they aren’t even at the
games. While they do travel for on-site broadcasts of playoff games and will be
in Foxborough for the Patriots-Chiefs tilt, their Monday night show comes from
a small studio in Miami. There, Kuhn and Vollmer sit in front of a bank of
television screens and talk football in their native language.
More importantly, they talk in a style that a German sports
audience can relate.
“We know certain background stories of the players that are more
interesting to our fans than maybe saying if they were playing cover-2 or what
exactly was the run scheme behind the play or the name of the blitz,” Kuhn
said. “That’s maybe for fans at the next level. We’re just explaining the
players’ background stories and from our experience we can explain the feelings
of how it is to actually be an American football player. I think that’s what
comes across in our broadcasts really nicely.”
The NFL loves it, and
Kuhn and Vollmer are a big part of the league’s recent efforts to push into the
German-speaking market.
Former Giants player Markus Kuhn, right, and
former Patriots player Sebastian Vollmer, left, are now broadcasting NFL games
back to Germany, one of the NFL's priority countries in terms of growing the
sport internationally. They will call the Giants-Eagles game on Monday Night
(Dec. 9, 2019). Credit: Markus Kuhn
“Having those guys
definitely helps,” said Henry Hodgson, NFL vice president of international
marketing and fan development. “It helps fans and potential fans see
that it isn’t just a foreign sport and that some of their own, people they can
identify with perhaps more easily like Markus and Sebastian, are involved in
it. It adds a level of expertise to the broadcast teams for our partners
there.”
American football always has had firm footing in Germany. Many
believe it stems from the large U.S. military presence there (Hall of Famer
Michael Strahan spent time on an army base in Germany during his childhood).
The GFL, or German Football League, is one of the top semi-pro organizations
outside North America in terms of both organization and talent (it’s where Kuhn
got his start with the sport). When NFL Europe folded about a decade ago, five
of the last six remaining teams were based in Germany.
But it wasn’t until recently that the league put renewed efforts
into growing the sport there.
“We knew we had a latent fan base, we just hadn’t done much to
serve it until two or three years ago, when we really got back into the market
and tried to reignite things both with our TV partners and then with some of
the other initiatives we’ve done,” Hodgson said. “Germany has been a great story for us.”
Kuhn is one of the
storytellers.
It’s not something the 33-year-old ever envisioned for himself.
He came to the United States to play football at North Carolina State, was
drafted by the Giants, for whom he played for four seasons, spent some time
with the Patriots, then was out of the league. In 2017 he announced his
retirement. From playing, anyway.
“For me, being in the NFL and making it that far was very
unrealistic with my background and how I was introduced to it,” he said. “But
this is the sport I fell in love with and New York is what I consider my home.
My wife works and lives here as well. So it made sense for me after I was done
playing to move back to New York.”
He enrolled at Columbia University (he received a master’s
degree in sports management this spring), but found he was being asked to
appear in a lot of German-speaking broadcasts. Usually he was just brought in
as an “expert” for a few words or some analysis, but that grew into more
regular platforms. Soon he and Vollmer, the former Patriots offensive lineman,
were broadcasting Patriots preseason games back to Germany. With a hunger for
such programming, that blossomed into them covering all of the Monday night
games. They’ve been doing that since last season.
So he flies to Miami from New York every Monday, covers the
games with Vollmer, records a German-language podcast with Vollmer on Tuesday,
then flies back home.
As for covering the Giants, Kuhn makes no apologies for any
allegiances that come out in his coverage.
“Being a former Giant I was probably a little bit biased and not
completely independent,” he said of his take on the Giants-Cowboys game on a
Monday night last month. “You hear the fans saying ‘Markus is very biased!’ But
then the same thing when we broadcast a Patriots game, Sebastian is a little
bit more biased. We are not independent commentators, we are former players, we
are also fans of the game, so especially when the Giants play I am obviously
rooting for them to win the game and that comes across in the broadcast. But
it’s also part of us being unique in our jobs that we have teams that we like
and we have teams that we don’t like. Maybe some viewers or listeners don’t
really like that, but I think overall it comes across as funny.”
The two players routinely jab at each other. Vollmer will tout
his two Super Bowl rings he won with the Patriots. Kuhn will brag about being
the first – and still only – German player to score an NFL touchdown. They
tangle about offense versus defense. Kuhn handles more of the play-by-play, but
essentially their booth consists of two color commentators rather than the
traditional pairings that American audiences are used to.
“The way that sports are presented in Germany is a little
different than in the U.S.,” Hodgson said. “It’s a little bit more lighthearted
so I know they have a lot of fun doing it and having spent time with the two of
them together they have a great relationship. That camaraderie and fun the two
guys have comes out in their broadcast partnership when they are in the booth
together.”
So what makes Kuhn the unlikely yet ideal person for this job?
“I’ve been an outsider to the sport, so my perspective to the
sport is completely different,” Kuhn said. “That’s why I can explain it to a
new fan base in a completely different way. I know what interests them a little
more compared to someone who grew up with the sport. I know that the things I
first thought about football were very unique and different.
“Who can really tell about the sport better than somebody from
Germany who has lived the American football life?”
