Al Michaels is a television sports commentator who serves as the play-by-play announcer for Thursday Night Football. In addition, he holds an emeritus position at 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 his detailed commentary on 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 commentated on many events during the 1984 Summer Olympics, as well as other Olympic events, including the Olympic Trials.
Where did Al Michaels go?
The regular season opener 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’s reportedly decided to join Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, which debuts in Week 2, so he won’t be contributing to Sunday Night Football anymore.
Thanks to an 11-year rights agreement, a weekly NFL exclusive will be 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 announcers for Thursday Night Football, according to Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell’s March 23, 2022 tweet.
According to sportingnew.com, Mike Tirico has replaced Cris Collinsworth and new reporter Melissa Stark as the new play-by-play announcer for ‘Sunday Night Football’.
Al called Sunday Night Football alongside John Madden from August 6, 2006 to April 15, 2009. On February 1, 2009, he called his ninth game overall as a play-by-play announcer and his first telecast of the Super Bowl for NBC.
After Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy, he is the third person to ever handle play-by-play for an NBC Super Bowl television broadcast.
Has play-by-play announcer Al Michaels retired?
Al Michaels hasn’t given up on his career as a sportscaster, although he quit as Sunday Night Football’s play-by-play announcer.
According to NBC’s announcement, he will continue to work as the “distinguished” NFL playoff game announcer for the network.
He also thanked NBCUniversal staff and NBC Sports President Pete Bevacqua for helping to achieve this goal.
He is now ready for his new position as Thursday Night Football play-by-play announcer. It is licensed to broadcast the Olympics and NFL playoffs and participate in their broadcasts on NBC.
In a deal that saw NBC produce several Thursday Night Games for the NFL Network broadcast as well as simulcasts of other games on NBC, he chaired Thursday Night Football for the first time in 2016.
After his contract with NBC expired following the network’s coverage of Super Bowl 56 in February, Al Michaels, 77, has reportedly risen to the top of the sports commentator market.
Michaels was rumored to have struck a deal with Amazon Prime Video earlier in March to be the play-by-play commentator for “Thursday Night Football” on the streaming service exclusively beginning with the 2022 season.
Later, Al and analyst Kirk Herbstreit were officially confirmed by the NFL to provide their voices for Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football.”
Michaels and Herbstreit aired a Thursday game between the 49ers and Texans in Week 3 of the 2022 NFL preseason, giving viewers their first look at the new show. Fortunately, there have been some positive evaluations of the program.
Fans can still hear Michaels on NBC this season, even though he’s moved on to a new weekly project.
“Al provided the music for many of the greatest moments in sports broadcasting history. He is loved by viewers and his colleagues alike,” said Pete Bevacqua, director of NBC Sports.
Al Michaels Bio
Born November 12, 1944, Alan Richard Michaels is a retired American sportscaster who is currently the Thursday Night Football play-by-play announcer 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, including from 1986 to 2005 on ABC Monday Night Football and from 2006 to 2021 on NBC Sunday Night Football, Michaels served as the play-by-play announcer for National Football League games. The Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics and the third game interrupted by an earthquake of the 1989 World Series are two other notable calls he is credited with making in other sports.
Born |
Alain Richard Michaels November 12, 1944 Brooklyn, New York, USA |
---|---|
active years | 1964-present |
Joint |
Linda Anne Stamaton (Mr. 1966) |
Children | 2 |
Sports commentator career | |
Genre(s) | game by game |
Sports |
|
Employer | Amazon (2022–present) NBC Sports (1971-1974, 2006-present) CBS Sports (1975) ABC Sports (1976–2006) |
Early life and education
Michaels was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Jay Leonard Michaels and Lila Roginsky/Ross, a Jewish family. He has always been a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. In 1958, the same year the Dodgers left Brooklyn, Michaels’ family moved to Los Angeles. In 1962, he graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School. Michaels attended 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 sportswriter for the independent student newspaper The State Press at Arizona State University. Additionally, he belongs to the Sigma Nu fraternity.
Carrier start
With Chuck Barris Productions, Michaels’ first position in the television industry was to select women to participate in The Dating Game. His first position in sports broadcasting was as a color commentator on Los Angeles Lakers radio broadcasts in 1967, working alongside veteran play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn. He was hired to handle public relations for the franchise. He however lost his job after just four games due to Chick Hearn’s aversion to dealing with a youngster.
He returned to broadcasting in 1968 after moving to Honolulu, where he worked as a sports anchor for KHVH-TV (now KITV) and called play-by-play for the USA football and basketball teams. University of Hawaii, as well as neighborhood high school football. Pacific Coast League Hawaii Islanders baseball team and games. In 1969, he was recognized as “Sports Announcer of the Year” in Hawaii. 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 moved to Cincinnati in 1971 and began working as a play-by-play radio commentator for the Cincinnati Reds. He helped cover the Fall Classic for NBC Sports in 1972 when the Reds won the National League Championship Series and made it to the World Series. Additionally, he handled play-by-play duties for the network during hockey coverage of the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.
When Bill Enis, an NBC announcer, died of a heart attack two days before the NFL regular season championship game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Oilers was scheduled to air, Dave Kocourek was appointed to fill Enis’ position in the cabin.
He replaced Dick Enberg on delayed telecasts of UCLA home games in 1974 after leaving the Reds for a similar position with the San Francisco Giants. At the time, UCLA was in the midst of an 88-game winning streak. He also covered basketball for UCLA. In 1975, he left NBC and began calling local NFL games for CBS Sports. He worked part-time for ABC Sports in 1976, calling Monday Night Baseball relief 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 shared play-by-play responsibilities for coverage of ABC’s World Series up to that point, with Michaels assigned to call National League park games and Jackson to call American League park games, beginning in 1979.
Michaels has covered a wide range of sports[8] for ABC over the next three decades, including Major League Baseball, college football (teaming with the likes of Frank Broyles, Lee Grosscup and Ara Parseghian from 1977 to 1985 and later Monday Night Football fellow Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf for the Sugar Bowl from 1989 to 1992), college basketball (usually partnered with Joe B. Hall from 1987 to 1989), ice hockey, track and field events, horse racing
As studio host for the Stanley Cup Finals from 2000 to 2002, Michaels also covered other notable events for ABC. Additionally, he hosted Tiger Woods’ annual Monday night specials, which aired in July or August.
At least twice in the ESPN Classic comedy series Cheap Seats, episodes of Wide World of Sports featuring Michaels early in his tenure on ABC have been referenced.