Yesterday, the sports media world was shocked to find out that Al Michaels would not be calling an NFL playoff game in 2024.
The news came from a report by The New York Post's Andrew Marchand, who said that he had spoken to Michaels in November for a story and that at the time, the legendary play-by-play announcer was unaware that he may not be calling a playoff game for NBC.
Marchand hopped on his Dec. 13 show, "The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast," and provided more details about the falling out between Michaels and NBC's decision to hand over the playoff broadcasts to its "Sunday Night Football" pairing of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth.
"At the end at NBC, there weren't good relations," Marchand said. "They promised Tirico the job, Tirico patiently waited for the job, and Al kept trying to keep the job for a long time."
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Michaels has been calling games for Amazon Prime Video over the last several years, but told Marchand that part of his contract was to call playoff games for NBC. Amazon does not have the rights to an NFL playoff game this year.
The 79-year-old announcer is considered one of the greatest voices in the history of sports, but has faced criticism over the last several years for noticeably weaker performances in the booth.
Marchand acknowledged on his show that Michaels has had better days as an announcer — though he was not as critical as some of Michaels' harshest critics on social media. The New York Post reporter said that he even tried to advise the legendary announcer about what could be a proper way to go out.
"In November, I wrote a column where I talked with Al, and I said that I felt the best course of action for him to get in front of everything would be to maybe do this year, then rest the next year," Marchand said. "A nice retirement tour for the guy who is probably the best TV NFL play-by-player of all-time."
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"The reason I hadn't reported it until now is because with Al, he's a fighter, he's strong, and he will pull as many levers as he can to try to change things up," Marchand said.
Marchand said he came out with yesterday's report after NBC Sports executive vice president for communications Greg Hughes confirmed the news to him that Michaels was out of the Comcast-owned (CMCSA) -) network's NFL playoff coverage.
"The thing is, if you keep staying and you don't leave, then eventually they do tell you it's time to go," Marchand said. "It's one of those catch-22s."
The situation with Michaels isn't exactly new for NBC. In the late 2000s, NBC had a difficult time removing talk show host Jay Leno from "The Tonight Show" after failing to inform him that they had promised Conan O'Brien that he would be Leno's successor.
That drama resulted in O'Brien filing a lawsuit against NBC, which he left in January 2010.
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