Super Bowl Seacrest

Thu., Aug. 16, 2007 3:36 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

For you, Super Bowl Sunday will be a chance to reacquaint your behind with your couch. For Ryan Seacrest, it'll be a chance to work.

Some more.

The multitasking Seacrest has taken on yet another task: "Entertainment host" of next February's Super Bowl XLII, Fox Sports announced Thursday.

"The Super Bowl has grown to become a landmark holiday on the American calendar, attracting not only the sports world, but the biggest stars in music and entertainment," said Fox Sports Television Group chairman David Hill in a statement. "Naturally, we’d like our broadcast to reflect that growth, so we’ve expanded our pregame lineup beyond the realm of sports."

"Beyond the realm of sports" is where "entertainment host" Seacrest comes in. (The quote marks around Seacrest's new job title were Fox's.)

Fox Sports said Seacrest will interview celebrity attendees and introduce pregame show acts, whatever they may be. (None have yet been announced.)

At the same time, Fox Sports took pains to assure gridiron diehards that their gridiron needs would "of course" be met by the network's usual stable of experts, including former NFLers Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson.

For the 32-year-old Seacrest, the Super Bowl will be yet another A-list entry on his resume. Already, for Fox, he hosts TV's most-watched series, American Idol; for ABC and role-model Dick Clark, cohosts TV's most-watched New Year's Eve countdown show, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve; and, for E!, anchors E! News and red-carpet coverage from TV's most-watched event that isn't the Super Bowl, the Academy Awards. (E! Online is a division of E! Networks.)

Seacrest also keeps himself busy with a Los Angeles-based morning radio show, the nightly E! News Live, and the weekend radio staple, American Top 40, along with various producing gigs that ensure free time is kept at a minimum.

The Super Bowl should bring Seacrest his biggest single audience yet. Last winter's contest, broadcast on CBS, averaged 93.2 million viewers.

"It's bigger than a game," Seacrest said in a statement, "and I am thrilled about joining the absolute best sports broadcast team in the world."