1. Mike Tirico is currently the lead play-by-play announcer for NBC Sunday Night Football, having replaced Al Michaels in 2022, and is set to become the lead play-by-play announcer for NBC's NBA coverage in 2025.
37 Facts About Mike Tirico
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Mike Tirico is the primary primetime host for the Olympics on NBC and the host of Triple Crown races on NBC.
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From 1997 to 2006, Mike Tirico served as lead announcer for the PGA Tour on ABC.
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From 2006 to 2015, Mike Tirico served as a play-by-play announcer on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
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Mike Tirico has called a multitude of sports in his career, including the NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, golf, tennis, and World Cup soccer.
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Mike Tirico left ESPN after 25 years with the network when his contract expired in mid-2016, and was hired by NBC Sports.
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Mike Tirico debuted during NBC's coverage of the 2016 Open Championship and has since served as the network's lead host for golf coverage.
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Mike Tirico was born in New York City to an Italian American mother and an African American father.
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Mike Tirico grew up in the borough of Queens, graduating from Bayside High School.
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Mike Tirico joined ESPN in 1991 as a SportsCenter anchor, after four years as sports director at CBS affiliate WTVH in Syracuse, New York, during his undergraduate years at Syracuse University.
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Mike Tirico was noted for his versatile nature and the variety of assignments he handled for SportsCenter.
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Mike Tirico hosted studio coverage of various ESPN and ABC covered events, including a stint on ESPN's Monday Night Countdown from 1993 to 2001 and ABC's NBA studio shows.
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Mike Tirico anchored the 2009 US Open and co-anchored the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euro 2016.
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On May 9,2016, after a leak the prior month, it was officially announced that Mike Tirico would join NBC Sports effective July 1,2016.
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Mike Tirico signed off for the last time on ESPN on June 30,2016, during the conclusion of that day's coverage of the UEFA Euro 2016 soccer tournament.
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Mike Tirico moved to the studio host role in the afternoons on both Thursday and Friday, and he hosted all on the coverage on NBC proper over the weekend.
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Mike Tirico served as a studio host and contributor for NBC's broadcasts of the 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio de Janeiro in August.
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Sports Business Journal initially reported that Mike Tirico would serve as NBC's lead play-by-play announcer for Thursday Night Football, and was likely to be a future successor to Al Michaels.
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Mike Tirico would join Hicks to host Sunday coverage of the event.
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In November 2016, NBC announced that Mike Tirico would perform play-by-play with Cris Collinsworth on three Sunday Night Football games and one Thursday Night Football game, filling in for Al Michaels.
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On February 9,2017, Bob Costas announced that he would be retiring as the primetime host of NBC's coverage of the Olympics, and that Mike Tirico would replace him beginning at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
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Mike Tirico replaced Costas as studio host for NBC's NFL coverage and Football Night in America.
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Mike Tirico skipped Super Bowl LII in order to focus on preparing for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which began the following Friday, but contributed to NBC's pregame coverage from Pyeongchang.
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On February 20,2019, Mike Tirico called his first NHL game on NBCSN's Wednesday Night Hockey, between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings, joined by Eddie Olczyk on color commentator and Brian Boucher as the "Inside-the-Glass" reporter.
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Mike Tirico's performance was well received by viewers and sportswriters.
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Mike Tirico worked one of NBC's two Wild Card games, albeit remotely, due to COVID-19 protocols.
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Mike Tirico then called the originally planned Sunday night game with Tony Dungy and Kathryn Tappen.
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Mike Tirico hosted both the 2022 Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl LVI, traveling to Los Angeles part-way through the Games to anchor Olympics coverage from outside SoFi Stadium on the weekend of the Super Bowl.
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Tirico has been paired in the college football booth with Tim Brant, Terry Bowden, Mike Gottfried, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, and David Norrie.
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From 2017 until he assumed Al Michaels' Sunday Night Football post, Mike Tirico served as play-by-play for Notre Dame Football on NBC, partnering with Doug Flutie and later Tony Dungy.
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Mike Tirico called his last NBA game on May 8,2016, during the second round of the 2016 NBA playoffs.
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Mike Tirico has worked with Len Elmore on college basketball coverage.
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Mike Tirico worked with Jon Gruden on Monday Night Football and the Outback Bowl and Orange Bowl.
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Mike Tirico hosted his first show from WAER radio in Syracuse, the station where he started his sports broadcasting career, on the campus of Syracuse University.
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On September 20,2007, Tirico began hosting the short-lived The Mike Tirico Show on ESPN Radio with co-host Scott Van Pelt, replacing Dan Patrick in its previous timeslot.
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On May 19,2009, Mike Tirico announced he would be leaving the show to focus more on his television duties; the show would carry on as The Scott Van Pelt Show, with Ryen Russillo becoming the new co-host.
37.
In September 2022, Mike Tirico acknowledged that his father is African American.