Halftime Show Drowns Out CBS NFL Analysts

Whether it was the result of a miscommunication between Arrowhead Stadium and CBS Sports or a more nefarious reason, we may never know what caused CBS Sports’ halftime show during its coverage of the AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals to be drowned out by the stadium’s halftime performance by country music singer Walker Hayes.

As “NFL on CBS” commentators James Brown, Boomer Esiason, Phil Simms, Bill Cowher and Nate Burleson began analyzing first half play in their set near the field, Hayes' band began its performance. Viewers  could see the band’s speakers directly behind the set as the music began to overwhelm the on-set commentary. 

The analysts seemed to take it all in stride, trying to ignore the cacophony directly behind them—until they didn’t.

“I have no idea what you just said,” Boomer Esiason said in response to Nate Burleson “I can’t hear a thing that anybody said.”

At one point, Brown suggested using sign language to get their point across. 

Dennis Baxter, audio columnist for TV Tech, called the idea of putting commentators on the sideline "stupid."

"There were 5 open microphones in front of a speaker cluster plus football venues are notoriously loud and have poor acoustics," he said. "I feel sorry for the poor audio mixers who did not get a real rehearsal to set levels and I guarantee those speakers were a surprise to someone although there should have been a drawing somewhere. I think the producers should be replaced next season for sheer stupidity. Sacrificing audio for a camera angle! Chroma a key?"

The incident lit up social media, including one comment from Twitter: “Not sure if i missed a good walker hayes concert or a bad halftime show.”