NBC Calls Audible, Dumps Al Michaels for NFL Playoffs

It’s the end of an era. Legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels will not be calling an NFL playoff game for NBC this year.

While NBC will air three playoff contests on its broadcast network and one on its streaming service Peacock, it has not tapped Michaels to be part of its postseason crew. The New York Post was first to report the move.

Instead, three of the games will feature the network’s top pair of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, while the other game will be handled by Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge, who generally call college games. NBC Sports vice president Greg Hughes confirmed the game assignments to the Post.

After Michaels was replaced on Sunday Night Football last year by Tirico, the 79-year-old moved to Amazon Prime to take on play-by-play duties on Thursday Night Football. However, NBC did bring Michaels back for last year’s playoffs, where he called the thrilling Jaguars-Chargers game alongside Tony Dungy.

In a conversation with the Post last month, meanwhile, Michaels still seemed to believe that he would have a playoff assignment with the network. He was left shocked, however, when the paper’s reporter informed him that NBC was thinking about swapping him out of the rotation.

“It’s in my deal,” Michaels declared at the time. “Where are you hearing that from? That’s part of my deal. Are you hearing something that I’m not hearing?”

Michaels joined NBC in 2006 after the network secured the rights to Sunday Night Football, first teaming up with the late Hall of Fame coach John Madden, who had been Michaels’ partner on Monday Night Football. Michaels had spent 20 years as MNF’s play-by-play announcer before ABC moved it to ESPN, prompting Madden and Michaels to leave for NBC. Collinsworth would replace Madden in 2009 as SNF’s color commentator.

With NBC long promising Tirico the lead perch on Sunday Night Football, the network decided to move Michaels to an “emeritus” role after the 2021 season, letting him go out on a high note as the voice of the network’s broadcast of the Super Bowl in February 2022.

Michaels, who has another year on his deal with Amazon Prime, says he intends to return for the 2024 season of Thursday Night Football.

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