Most-watched game in sports TV gets a new voice: Fifth in series on major NFL TV changes
Fifth in a six-part series on major NFL television changes this offseason and other NFL media fodder
Mike Tirico once left one of the most coveted NFL play-by-play jobs in sports television. Now he’s replacing perhaps the best NFL play-by-play voice in the history of sports television.
Six years after surprisingly leaving ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” booth to take a job at NBC, Tirico will succeed the legendary Al Michaels as the voice of “Sunday Night Football,” alongside Cris Collinsworth.
Tirico calls Thursday’s Buffalo-Rams opener; Michaels will announce Amazon’s Thursday night games, beginning with Chiefs-Chargers next week.
So why was Michaels pushed aside at NBC when he’s still at the height of his game?
As part of NBC’s attempt to lure Tirico from ESPN in 2016, the network promised him the NFL play-by-play chair by 2022. The thinking at the time was that Michaels would be 77 at the start of the 2022 season — 22 years older than Tirico — and that seemed like a reasonable amount of time to execute a succession plan.
Turns out, Michaels remains as good as ever, and he has landed on his feet at Amazon Prime as the streaming service’s voice of “Thursday Night Football,” paired with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit.
To the credit of Michaels and Tirico, both men have made the NBC transition as smooth and congenial and seamless as it possibly could be.
Michaels never complained publicly about Tirico replacing him or about NBC giving Tirico a contract that would assure that.
Tirico gracefully accepted a six-year wait to return full time to a full season of NFL play-by-play, biding his time deftly anchoring NBC’s NFL studio programming, calling Notre Dame football and filling in for Michaels on a handful of games a year, while also succeeding Bob Costas (who left by choice) as the host on the Olympics and other marquee NBC sports properties.
Tirico should rank in anybody’s top half dozen list of NFL play-by-players. He’s also one of the most versatile and skilled play-by-play men of his era. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s replacing perhaps the best to ever do it. Does that create any burden?
“No,” Tirico said during a conversation at the spring NFL owners meetings in Palm Beach. “I don’t use the word replace. I use the word follow. And I use that and feel that with Bob Costas and the Olympics, and I feel the same way here. Both Bob and Al, in their own way, are Mount Rushmore guys who have done it for so long in those places with such great ability and grace. I don’t think you replace people like that.
“For me, it has been the mindset of I’m following Bob. So for me, after three Olympic games and over time, I’ve been able to do that in a way that I’m really proud of. I think this will probably go along the same path.”
He’s certainly qualified for the job.
“I’ve done 200 NFL games,” Tirico said. “I’ve done 10 years of prime-time NFL football games. I’ve done 20 games with Cris over the past five years at NBC, which some people may not realize.
“It’s not walking in and saying ‘where’s the kitchen, how do you turn the TV on?’ I know everything about Sunday Night Football, how it’s run, all the people involved. I’ve been at NBC for six football seasons.”
Was the idea of holding off a year on the succession plan — until 2023 — broached by anyone? “I’m not going to talk about that because those are decisions that management has made,” Tirico said. “They were good about it.”
Tirico called “Monday Night Football” for 10 seasons on ESPN (2006 through 2016), working alongside Tony Kornheiser three seasons, Ron Jaworski four, and Joe Theismann one before spending his final seven years with Jon Gruden.
But the Sunday night package feels like a step up, because NBC always has received a better slate of games than ESPN, even though the cable network pays a higher rights fee.
Does Tirico feel like he’s moving into a higher profile NFL package than ESPN?
“No doubt,” he said. “And I felt that being in the studio for these games and being on the road as I was the first couple of years. We would fill in five games [for Michaels] each of the past two years. “Sunday Night Football” has become the top package. “Monday Night Football” will always be special on its own and will always be incredibly special to me. I’ve rooted for all the different sets of announcers on Monday night because I feel like I was part of building it for 10 years at ESPN.”
But…
“Sunday Night Football” has been the No. 1 prime time show for over a decade,” he said. “The chance to be on that feels pretty special.”
Though replacing a legend who had no desire to retire might feel awkward, Tirico says it hasn’t been.
“[Al and I] spoke about a half hour on the Wednesday before the Super Bowl when I got back from [Olympic hosting duties in] Beijing [in February] because I knew with my schedule with Beijing, I wouldn’t get a chance to see him,” Tirico said.
“I send him a text. He sends me a text back. We’ve gotten along great. We’ve texted since the offseason started. I count him as a friend. I hope he feels the same way. I have no reason to believe he doesn’t. If he stops returning my texts, I’ll know different.”
How does Tirico respond to people who ask him why the change is happening now?
“Not many people ask me why,” he said. “Those who are close enough that it matters have known the past couple of years that this was the plan. There was no reason to shout about it and talk about it.
“I don’t think I have to prove myself as an announcer at this point. Nobody has come to me and said why are they doing it? Everybody has read and seen and understands.”
And beyond that, “there’s so much wasted conversation about who’s calling games,” Tirico said. “It still amazes me to no end. If the announcers really, really made a huge difference, we would put the best announcers on the worst games.”
In the end, it worked out fine for everyone. Michaels gets to continue calling NFL games, albeit on a medium with considerably less exposure. Tirico moves into a job at which he has excelled at a different network.
“Hopefully,” Tirico said, “because of my time doing ‘Monday Night Football’ and the Olympics, people will feel very comfortable when Cris shows up in the booth with me on Sunday nights.”
Here’s part 1 on Amazon taking over the Thursday night package
Here’s part 2 on all of the NFL (and college football) TV changes
Here’s part 3 on CBS’ Phil Simms assessing the Dolphins
Here’s part 4 on Collinsworth assessing the Dolphins
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 3:00 PM.
