Here Is Why Al Michaels Is Not Working As The Play-by-play Announcer On NBC’s Sunday Night Football

Al Michaels is a sportscaster on television who serves as the play-by-play announcer for Thursday Night Football. Additionally, he holds an emeritus position with NBC Sports.

After nearly three decades (1976–2006) with American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Sports, he has worked in network sports broadcasting since 1971, most recently with NBC Sports.

He is well-known for providing play-by-play commentary for National Football League games on NBC Sunday Night Football and ABC Monday Night Football (1986 to 2005). (2006 to 2021).

Greg LeMond, Eric Heiden, and Michaels gave commentary for many events during the 1984 Summer Olympics, as well as additional Olympic events including the Olympic trials.

al michaels

Where Did Al Michaels Go?

The first regular-season game of the 2022 NFL season on NBC lacked Al Michaels. He announced his official departure on May 24, 2022, and called the final game, Super Bowl 56, in February.

He reportedly decided to join Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, which will debut in Week 2, thus he won’t be contributing to Sunday Night Football any more.

Thanks to an 11-year rights arrangement, a weekly NFL exclusive will be made available on Amazon for the first time in streaming history. According to Deadline, a total of 15 regular-season games will be webcast.

Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will serve as the Thursday Night Football announcers, according to Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell’s tweet from 23 March 2022.

According to sportingnew.com, Mike Tirico has replaced Cris Collinsworth and newly recruited sideline reporter Melissa Stark as the new play-by-play announcer for “Sunday Night Football.”

Al called Sunday Night Football alongside John Madden from 6 August 2006 to 15 April 2009. On February 1, 2009, he called his ninth game overall as a play-by-play announcer and his first Super Bowl telecast for NBC.

After Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy, he is the third person to have ever handled play-by-play for an NBC Super Bowl telecast.

Did Play-by-play Announcer Al Michaels Retire?

Al Michaels hasn’t given up on his career as a sportscaster, though he has stepped down as Sunday Night Football’s play-by-play announcer.

According to NBC’s announcement, he will continue to work as a “emeritus” NFL playoff game announcer for the network.

He also thanked the staff at NBCUniversal and NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua for helping to make this happen.

He is now prepared for his new position as Thursday Night Football’s play-by-play announcer. He is permitted to broadcast the Olympics and NFL Playoffs and to take part in their broadcasts on NBC.

As part of a deal that saw NBC produce several Thursday night games for NFL Network broadcasting along with simulcasts of other games on NBC, he presided over Thursday Night Football for the first time in 2016.

Al Michaels also signs an emeritus contract with NBC Sports

After his contract with NBC expired following the network’s coverage of the Super Bowl 56 in February, Al Michaels, 77, reportedly rose to the top of the market for sportscasters.

Michaels was rumoured to have an agreement with Amazon Prime Video earlier in March to be the play-by-play commentator for “Thursday Night Football” on the streaming service exclusively beginning in the 2022 season.

Later, Al and analyst Kirk Herbstreit were officially confirmed by the NFL to be providing their voices to Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football.”

Michaels and Herbstreit broadcast a Thursday game between the 49ers and Texans during Week 3 of the 2022 NFL preseason, giving viewers their first taste of the new broadcast. Fortunately, there were some positive evaluations of the programme.

Fans can still hear Michaels on NBC this season even though he has transitioned to a new weekly project.

“Al has provided the music for many of the greatest moments in sports broadcast history. He is beloved by viewers and colleagues,” said Pete Bevacqua, head of NBC Sports.

Al Michaels Bio

Born on November 12, 1944, Alan Richard Michaels is a retired American television sportscaster who presently serves as the play-by-play announcer for Thursday Night Football on Prime Video. Since 1971, he has worked in network sports broadcasting, most recently with NBC Sports (1976–2006), after nearly three decades with ABC Sports.

For many years, notably from 1986 to 2005 on ABC Monday Night Football and from 2006 through 2021 on NBC Sunday Night Football, Michaels was the play-by-play announcer for National Football League games. The Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics and the earthquake-interrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series are two additional notable calls he is renowned for having made in other sports.

Early life and education

Michaels was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Jay Leonard Michaels and Lila Roginsky/Ross, a Jewish family. He was a lifelong Brooklyn Dodgers supporter. In 1958, the same year the Dodgers left Brooklyn, Michaels’ family relocated to Los Angeles. In 1962, he received his diploma from Alexander Hamilton High School. Michaels studied at Arizona State University, where he double-majored in journalism and radio and television. He called Sun Devils baseball, basketball, and football games for the college radio station and worked as a sports journalist for the independent student newspaper The State Press at Arizona State University. Additionally, he belongs to the fraternity Sigma Nu.

Early career

With Chuck Barris Productions, Michaels’ first position in the television industry was selecting ladies to take part in The Dating Game. His first position in sportscasting was as a color commentator on the Los Angeles Lakers’ radio broadcasts in 1967, working alongside seasoned play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn. He was hired to handle public relations for the franchise. He did, however, lose his job after just four games as a result of Chick Hearn’s dislike of dealing with a young person.

He returned to broadcasting in 1968 after relocating to Honolulu, where he worked as a sports anchor for KHVH-TV (now KITV) and called play-by-play for the University of Hawaii football and basketball teams, as well as neighborhood high school football games and the Pacific Coast League’s Hawaii Islanders baseball team. In 1969, he was recognized as Hawaii’s “Sportscaster of the Year.” In the 1970 Hawaii Five-O episode “Run, Johnny, Run” (air date: January 14, 1970), Michaels played attorney Dave Bronstein with a young Christopher Walken.

Michaels relocated to Cincinnati in 1971 and started working as the Cincinnati Reds’ radio play-by-play commentator. He assisted in covering the Fall Classic for NBC Sports in 1972 when the Reds won the National League Championship Series and proceeded to the World Series. Additionally, he handled play-by-play duties for the network during the hockey coverage at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

When Bill Enis, an announcer for NBC, passed away from a heart attack two days before he was scheduled to broadcast the regular-season NFL championship game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Houston Oilers, Dave Kocourek was brought in to fill Enis’ position in the booth.

He replaced Dick Enberg on the tape-delayed telecasts of UCLA’s home games in 1974 after leaving the Reds for a similar post with the San Francisco Giants. At the time, UCLA was in the midst of an 88-game winning run. He also covered basketball for UCLA. In 1975, he departed NBC and began calling local NFL games for CBS Sports. He worked part-time for ABC Sports in 1976, calling backup Monday Night Baseball games for the network. He called two no-hitters that year: John Candelaria’s no-hitter for the Pirates against Los Angeles on August 9 (for ABC) and John Montefusco’s no-hitter for the Giants against Atlanta on September 29, 1976. (for Giants radio).

ABC Sports (1977–2006)

Michaels signed a full-time contract with ABC Sports in January 1977. He succeeded Keith Jackson as the network’s top baseball announcer in 1983. Michaels and Jackson divided play-by-play responsibilities for ABC’s World Series coverage until that point, with Michaels assigned to call games from the National League park and Jackson calling games from the American League park, starting in 1979.

Michaels covered a wide range of sports[8] for ABC over the following three decades, including Major League Baseball, college football (teaming up with people like Frank Broyles, Lee Grosscup, and Ara Parseghian from 1977–1985 and later, his Monday Night Football coworkers Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf for the Sugar Bowl from 1989–92), college basketball (typically partnering with Joe B. Hall from 1987–1989), ice hockey, track and field events, horse racing

As the studio host for the Stanley Cup Finals from 2000 to 2002, Michaels also covered other notable events for ABC. Additionally, he hosted the annual Tiger Woods Monday night specials, which were broadcast in July or August.

At least two times on the ESPN Classic comedy series Cheap Seats, episodes of Wide World of Sports featuring Michaels near the beginning of his ABC tenure have been referenced.