Wallace Defends Football-Only Fox News Sunday: Egypt Will “Be There Next Week”

Despite the news in Egypt, Fox News Sunday is scheduled to cover only football this Sunday. The show's schedule lists an interview with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell; a “fair and balanced” debate between ex-Packer Jerry Kramer and ex-Steeler Lynn Swann; a roundtable with Fox Sports commentators Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Michael Strahan; and a “Power Player of the Week” segment with Fox Sports' Joe Buck.

Host Chris Wallace was asked yesterday by radio host Mike Gallagher if he's “going to cover some non-football stuff.” Wallace replied, “No ... Can I just say one thing about [health care] and Egypt? It'll be there next week”:

WALLACE: No, it's going to be football.

GALLAGHER: The whole hour?

WALLACE: Yes.

GALLAGHER: Like nothing else is happening. The health care repeal debate, the --

WALLACE: No, you know what? Can I just say one thing about that and Egypt? It'll be there next week.

There's a great deal of synergy in the scheduling: Fox News Sunday, like the Super Bowl, airs on Fox-TV. Such synergy was also on display earlier this week when Fox News devoted a half-hour of non-interrupted programming to the launch of Fox-parent News Corp.'s iPad-only publication, The Daily.

Unlike FNS, the other Sunday shows are scheduled to air non-football segments:

--NBC's “Meet the Press”: Sen. John Kerry (D-MA); former Secretary of State James A. Baker III; roundtable on the Reagan legacy with former Reagan White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III, former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, former Speaker of the California Assembly and former Mayor Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), and former NBC News White House Correspondent during the Reagan administration Andrea Mitchell (live from the Reagan Presidential Library)

--ABC's “This Week”: Christiane Amanpour will broadcast live from Cairo, Egypt

--CBS's “Face the Nation”: Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and the Brookings Institution's Martin Indyk; former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Israel and Jordan and former Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering; Al Jazeera Washington and New York Bureau Chief Dr. Abderrahim Foukara (additional guests TBA)

--"Fox News Sunday": NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell; former Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann and former Packers offensive lineman Jerry Kramer; roundtable with Fox Sports' Terry Bradshaw, Fox Sports' Howie Long and Fox Sports' Michael Strahan; “Power Player of the Week” segment with Fox Sports' Joe Buck (live from Cowboys Stadium)

--CNN's “State of the Union”: Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte and former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Edward Walker; Co-Chairman of the White House Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY)