After stepping into the booth several times last season, Mike Tirico has been tapped as the play-by-play announcer for “Sunday Night Football” on NBC with the legendary Al Michaels heading to Amazon Prime Video to call games for the streamer’s NFL package.
“When Mike joined NBC Sports in 2016, it was our plan for him to become our primetime Olympics host and the play-by-play voice of Sunday Night Football,” NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said. “We are excited to have Mike join Cris Collinsworth full-time in the booth this season.”
Michaels is coming off his record 36th season as an NFL play-by-play announcer in prime time. Michaels, the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in 2011, also called his 11th Super Bowl in February to match the most for a TV commentator. ESPN veteran Kirk Herbstreit will join Michaels at Amazon as color analyst.
“This is the new frontier in sports television,” Michaels said. “And to be a part of the launch at this point in my career is both exciting and stimulating. The NFL is the king of unscripted television and I’m looking forward to joining Kirk to bring fans more dramatic episodes on Thursday nights this fall.”
Tirico joined NBC Sports in 2016 after a decade as the voice of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” He made his debut as the host of NBC Sports’ live coverage of The Open from Royal Troon in Scotland. A short time later, he made his Olympics debut as host for NBC’s daytime coverage of Rio 2016.
Tirico served as NBC’s primetime Olympics host for both the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The 2021 season marked Tirico’s 26th as an NFL primetime studio host or play-by-play voice. This year, he also led NBC’s Olympics and Super Bowl coverage. He is one of four play-by-play announcers to work primetime NFL games for at least 10 seasons, alongside Michaels, Frank Gifford, and Mike Patrick.