A major shakeup in sports broadcasting is in the works, as John Ourand of Sports Business Daily is reporting that Mike Tirico will leave ESPN for NBC.
Ourand also speculated on what Tirico’s tole with NBC will be.
“Tirico is expected to be the lead play-by-play voice on NBC’s new “Thursday Night Football” package of five late-season games. It is unclear what his other roles will be at NBC, where Al Michaels is the lead play-by-play voice for the network’s signature “SNF” package, and Bob Costas is an established Olympics host, having been selected as primetime host for a record seven Olympics including this summer’s Rio Games.”
Ourand also noted that Sean McDonough is a likely replacement for Tirico as the lead play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football.
He also gave an indication of when this will take place, noting that Tirico “will continue to call (NBA) games through this year’s playoffs, as his current deal ends this summer,”
While this news won’t impact ESPN in any big way, this is definitely a shakeup of the status quo.
Tirico has been with the network since 1991 and has been the lead play-by-play man for Monday Night Football ever since ESPN began broadcasting those games in 2006.