NBC officially named its roster for its “Sunday Night Football” team.
The network announced Tuesday that Mike Tirico will handle the play-by-play responsibilities, Cris Collinsworth will remain as the game analyst and Melissa Stark will report from the sidelines. The trio’s first game together will be the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 4, with the regular-season opener slated for Sept. 8.
“Sunday Night Football is destination viewing and we are thrilled to have Mike, Cris and Melissa call the action and tell the stories that football fans have come to expect from primetime TV’s #1 show,” NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said.
Tirico effectively replaces Al Michaels, who officially joined Amazon last month. Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will serve as the broadcast team for “Thursday Night Football” beginning in 2022.
Collinsworth will begin his 14th season in the NBC Sunday Night Football broadcasting booth this fall. He also spent three seasons on NBC’s Football Night in America (2006-08).
Stark takes over for Michele Tafoya, who stepped away from sports journalism after Super Bowl LVI to transition to a career in social and political issues. Stark spent three seasons as a sideline reporter for ABC’s Monday Night Football (2000-02) and served as a host and reporter with NFL Network since 2011.