Legendary play-by-play caller Al Michaels is out of NBC's NFL playoff coverage, The New York Post's Andrew Marchand reported on Tuesday.
The news comes as a somewhat shocking development as Michaels has long been considered one of the best play-by-play announcers in sports history.
Even after he made a move to call games on Amazon Prime's "Thursday Night Football" alongside Kirk Herbstreit at the start of the 2022 NFL season, NBC allowed him to retain an emeritus role to still serve as a play-by-play announcer during last year's NFL playoffs.
Michaels called the Jaguars' electrifying comeback win over the Chargers in the 2023 AFC Wild Card round, but he will not receive the same opportunity this postseason.
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Why is NBC moving off of Michaels and who is expected to replace him in the booth? The Sporting News takes a closer look below.
Why is Al Michaels out of NBC's NFL playoff coverage?
In Marchand's report, he cited Michaels' "perceived lack of enthusiasm" in the booth during last year's playoff game and throughout the season on "Thursday Night Football" as a reason behind the decision.
Marchand added that Michaels wasn't expecting this move, but he also never wanted to leave the NBC broadcast team in the first place.
"They really kind of decided to move on from Al Michaels after the Super Bowl in 2022. That's when the succession plan [began] with Mike Tirico taking over," Marchand said on SNY.
"Michaels didn't want to go. He loved that Sunday job. He's been in prime time on network TV for more than three decades before leaving and going to Amazon."
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This will be Michaels' first time not calling NFL playoff games in three decades. The play-by-play legend's 11 Super Bowls called on television is tied with Pat Summerall for the most in history.
Who will replace Al Michaels on NBC's NFL playoff coverage?
As expected, NBC's lead broadcast team of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth will handle the bulk of the NFL playoff action.
NBC has four playoff games in January and that tandem will handle three of them, including one on the network's exclusive streaming service, Peacock.
As for the one NBC playoff game left over, those honors will go to the network's lead college football broadcast team, Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge, along with sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen, Marchand reported.
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