After 17 years of legendary calls, Al Michaels has officially been completely phased out of NBC’s NFL coverage. According to the New York Post, Michaels is out of NBC’s NFL playoff coverage.
The 79-year-old broadcasting legend began his broadcasting career with NBC in 1971, leaving the company in 1974. Then, in 2006, Michaels re-joined the network to lead their play-by-play coverage for both the regular season and playoffs.
While Michaels was replaced by Mike Tirico for NBC’s regular-season Sunday Night Football coverage in 2022, he still contributed during their playoff coverage. Michaels called the Jacksonville Jaguars’ historic 27-point comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers with Tony Dungy in 2022, although the two were panned for their lack of enthusiasm.
NBC has three playoff games throughout January, two of which will come in the same weekend. Tirico and Collinsworth will maintain their regular roles, while NBC’s No. 1 college team of Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge, and Kathryn Tappen will handle responsibilities during overlap.
The Post confirmed the assignments with NBC Sports VP Greg Hughes. While Michaels could not be reached for comment, he did tell the Post back in November that he expected to be hosting the game.
“It’s in my deal,” Michaels said when asked about his role on the playoff desk potentially being in limbo. “Where are you hearing that from? That’s part of my deal. Are you hearing something that I’m not hearing?”
NBC gave Michaels an “emeritus” title on his way out of NBC. While the details of the role were never fully divulged, part of the responsibility was calling NBC’s NFL playoff slate.
Michaels was once such a highly-sought-after product in the media space that NBC sent cable rights to four Ryder Cups, increased Olympics highlight rights, and sold the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to ABC/ESPN parent company Disney in exchange for letting Michaels out of his contract. Now, with the legendary broadcaster just having turned 79 in November, NBCUniversal has moved on to newer talent.
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