Ever since Mike Tirico left ESPN for NBC, it has long been expected that he would be the next successor to Al Michaels in the Sunday Night Football broadcast booth. Since Tirico joined NBC, he has been covering the Olympics and was also expected to broadcast Thursday Night games that are now on NBC, but the NFL stepped in and said not so fast.
The NFL has flexed its muscle and has tapped Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth to host Sunday and Thursday Night games.
Here is the NY Daily News quote from NFL VP of communications Brian McCarthy:
““They (Michaels and Collinsworth) are (NBC’s) number one team. So are (CBS’ Jim) Nantz and (Phil) Simms. We like the idea of having the same booth announcers from Sunday night and Sunday afternoon to carry over to Thursday,” Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s VP/Communications, said. “We’re hoping for that same magic ‘Sunday Night Football’ has with Al and Cris to carry over to Thursday night.”
This decision by the NFL is a bit of a head-scratcher. Michaels and Collinsworth are a great team with great chemistry, but this adds a substantial amount of work to their plate as it’s hard enough to prepare for just 1 game. Al Michaels is 71 years old and might be nearing the end of his tenure, so introducing Tirico on Thursday Night’s would have given viewers a chance to get comfortable with him, while creating a seamless transition. Of course the question now is, will Tirico still be considered for Sunday Night once Michaels retires?
The NFL stepping in here and making a broadcast decision should be a bit worrisome for Tirico, as he tries to make an impression with viewers and NBC execs. Tirico did good work on Monday Night Football, and at least deserves a shot at broadcasting Sunday night games.
