CBS changes TNF pregame show; Rihanna, Cheadle dropped
Hours after it was announced that Rihanna's Run This Town would open CBS Sports' Thursday Night Football coverage featuring the Steelers and Ravens, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told SI.com's Richard Deitsch that the network has changed its opening format in light of the Ray Rice scandal.
CBS Sports will now begin its pregame show with a report from CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell, who interviewed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday.
Additionally, the network also dropped Don Cheadle's narration over Run This Town.
"It's important to realize we are not overreacting to this story but it is as big a story as has faced the NFL," McManus told Deitsch on Thursday afternoon. "We thought journalistically and from a tone standpoint, we needed to have the appropriate tone and coverage. A lot of the production elements we wanted in the show are being eliminated because of time or tone."
More from Deitsch:
The pregame was initially going to open with a football-centric conversation on the Ravens and Steelers with TNF pregame staffers Brown, Bill Cowher, Deion Sanders and members of NFL Network, and what still will make air is an extended interview Brown conducted with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. Both CBS and NFL Network officials have previously stressed that they consider NFL Total Access Kickoff, which will air on the NFL Network beginning at 6 p.m. ET, as the start of one pregame show over two networks. (You’ll see talent on both networks floating between the two shows.) The NFL Network is expected to lead its pregame show at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m with the Rice story.
When asked how much pressure CBS Sports received from the league regarding its handling of Goodell, McManus said, "zero."
The Steelers and Ravens kick off at 8:25 PM ET.
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