NFL bans Mike Tirico from Thursday Night Football games on NBC
By Ted Fleming
It appears the NFL flexed its muscles and won’t allow Mike Tirico to broadcast Thursday Night Football.
According to a report by the New York Daily News, Mike Tirico will not be announcing Thursday Night NFL games for his new bosses at NBC. After leaving ESPN for the Peacock Network, it was presumed he would be in line to step in for Al Michaels for their new five-game Thursday Night Football package with the league.
“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.”
NBC is paying a reported $250 million for the five games and this could be a big blow to the network because Tirico was not brought to lend his voice to the game. He is an accomplished football broadcaster with a stellar reputation in the industry spending the last decade as the voice of ESPN’s flagship Monday Night Football.
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Could the NFL be punishing Tirico for leaving the MNF booth based on their release? Michaels is 71 years old and while still in his prime, he will be allowed to concentrate on a single broadcast instead of two. He will be 73 when his contract expires so it was believed Tirico was brought in to allow Michaels to gracefully slide into retirement, but that still didn’t matter to the league.
NBC agreed to use their No. 1 team when it landed the TNF deal and it appears the league is holding them to that agreement despite Tirico’s résumé.