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Joel Klatt has called football on Fox for a decade, and he still finds the UFL the most challenging part of his job \u2014 in a good way.<\/p>\n
In a recent interview<\/a> with Gio Journal<\/em>, Klatt was asked how his role changes between a Big Noon Saturday college game and a UFL broadcast. On a college broadcast, Klatt is doing most of the heavy lifting himself. He studies rosters and coaching philosophies beforehand, watches film all week, and then filters the game through his own preparation in real time.<\/p>\n In the UFL, Fox can hear coaches communicate, hear quarterbacks calling plays live on the air, and get cameras and microphones directly into the action in ways that college and NFL broadcasts simply don\u2019t allow. That means the game narrates itself, and Klatt\u2019s job shifts from decoding the action to making sure viewers understand what they are already hearing \u2014 which, as he told Gio Journal<\/em> \u2014 turns out to be its own challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cI view my role much more as just a translator,\u201d Klatt said, \u201cas if you went to an awesome place internationally and you didn\u2019t really know what was going on and hearing all these terms, but you knew it was a really cool place to be. Well wouldn\u2019t it be great if you could have someone that could help you translate what\u2019s going on in that awesome restaurant internationally? That\u2019s kind of my role for a UFL game. And to be honest, it\u2019s challenging, and that\u2019s the most fun part about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Klatt and Curt Menefee<\/a> have been Fox\u2019s top spring football booth<\/a> since the XFL days, going back to 2020, and Klatt has talked before about how it took him time to understand that the role required a different approach than his fall work.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I would have known that earlier,\u201d he said in the Gio Journal<\/em> interview, \u201cI certainly would have been better off.\u201d<\/p>\n The UFL\u2019s 2026 season kicks off with what Klatt described as the most excitement he has felt heading into any season of spring football he has covered, citing new cities, new venues, and a raft of new rules<\/a>. The one he singled out as the league\u2019s best innovation is the fourth-down conversion option as an alternative to the onside kick.<\/p>\n \n\t<\/div>\n