American Idol 16 reportedly offers Luke Bryan contract to be next judge
According to a new report coming in right now via TMZ, the network has submitted an offer to the country superstar to be one of the stars of the new season, and they are now in a position where they have to see if he wants in or not. It makes perfect sense for Idol to want to bring him on board — he is one of the biggest country stars in America right now, and many viewers within the American Idol core demographic are located in the heartland. This just so happens to be the same place in which Bryan is the most popular. Bringing him on gives the show more credibility, and it often ensures that this demo watches every week. It feels like a win-win provided that the folks at the network can actually sign him and get him aboard the new season.
Well, herein lies the problem: Making sure that Bryan is a part of the new season. ABC needs to find the money to pay him, and there’s no precisely word as of yet if they are offering enough money. This is where giving Katy Perry $25 million to become a judge on the show becomes so problematic. If you are telling her that she is worth that much, then whatever a new judge gets will be defined as a certain percentage of Katy. Let’s say that Luke is offered $10 million to do the show, which would be a tremendous salary; yet, this would be a sign that the network is only valuing him at around 40% of what they’re valuing her. Is he worth more than that if Katy’s market rate is $25 million. This is where they could force themselves into a corner, especially since high costs were one of the reasons why this show ended at Fox in the first place. ABC needs to give this show a fighting chance, and they need to think about costs.
One other thing that they need to think about is rather simple at the moment: The fact that there’s not all that much time left in order for them to make a decision. Auditions are filming with the entire panel this fall, and they’re already potentially hurting auditions by having contestants come out without knowing who they have a good shot of meeting down the road. They need to just get the panel locked up so that everyone can move on to other things, including making the best show humanly possible.
Do you think that Luke Bryan is the right fit for an American Idol judge?
Be sure to share some of your thoughts on that subject right now in the comments! Meanwhile, you can head over to the link here in the event you do want to see how the show decided to handle some of its recent Texas auditions in light of Hurricane Harvey. (Photo: Fox.)