Report: NFL refused to let NBC use Mike Tirico for Thursday Night Football
When Mike Tirico joined NBC shortly after they won the rights to broadcast Thursday Night Football, it was widely assumed that he would become the voice of that particular package. That will reportedly not happen, however, because the NFL has stepped in.
According to Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News, NBC executives planned to use Tirico on Thursday Night Football, but those plans were nixed by the league, who insisted on NBC using their top team of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth as part of the deal.
NBC Sports head Mark Lazarus hinted back in March that Michaels and Collinsworth would prefer not to add a second telecast per week.
“It’s a full-time job to do one game a week. It’s not just adding a three-hour broadcast,” Lazarus said. “It’s a substantial amount of work. Nobody raised their hand and said ‘I really want to do double the workload.'”
NBC Sports was tight-lipped when asked if they had intended to use Tirico in the role.
“We made an agreement (with the NFL) to use our team of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth on ‘Thursday Night Football,'” a spokesman said.
Tirico left ESPN back in April, probably under the impression that he’d receive the Thursday night gig. He’ll have to settle for golf coverage, at the very least, though he’s almost certainly still Michaels’s heir apparent in the booth.
