It looks like the man that some say is the best play-by-play man in NFL history won’t be on NBC’s playoff coverage.
Al Michaels, it’s reported, won’t be on any of the three playoff games that the NBC family of networks will have this season, according to awfulannouncing.com (Al Michaels won’t be on NBC’s NFL Playoff coverage (awfulannouncing.com)).
Michaels has been calling games this season on “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime with Kirk Herbstreit, where he is on a three-year deal.
The story was originally broken by The New York Post, and then reported by Ben Axelrod of awfulannouncing.com. The Post reported Tuesday that Michaels was unaware that he wasn’t a part of the plan, and Andrew Marchand of the Post talked to Michaels about it.
“It’s in my deal,” Michaels said, in the Post’s story. “Where are you hearing that from? That’s part of my deal. Are you hearing something that I’m not hearing?”
Two of the games will feature Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth and sideline reporter Melissa Stark, and Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen, the network’s lead college team, will cover the third.
Michaels, who was the longtime voice of “Monday Night Football” on ABC, had been on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” from 2006-2021.
Michaels did call the Jacksonville-Los Angeles Chargers playoff game last year and does still have ties to NBC. Although it wasn’t specifically stated, it would surprise many in the industry if Michaels didn’t have any role in broadcasting the postseason at all – but that may be the case.
