Report: Mike Tirico is leaving ESPN for NBC
Monday Night Football is going to sound a little different this year, as ESPN is losing the voice of its weekly primetime game.
According to a report, Mike Tirico is leaving ESPN to join NBC and their growing sports network.
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Mike Tirico, one of ESPN's best known on-air voices, is leaving the network for NBC, according to several sources. Tirico has been a mainstay with ESPN since '91, and given his many roles at ESPN, he will be an incredibly difficult talent to replace.
Editor's note: ESPN declined to comment on the situation when contacted by AOL.com.
At this point, it's unclear what Tirico will be doing at NBC but the belief is that he'll head up the network's Thursday Night Football coverage. He'll probably also be a part of the network's extensive Kentucky Derby content as well as any golf coverage NBC rolls out. The network doesn't have the rights to the NBA, which is something that Tirico helped cover as a lead analyst for ESPN.
Obviously, Tirico will be a part of the Olympic coverage this summer, and there's the possibility that he might be able to still work some ESPN games if his contact allows it. You can't count out the possibility that Tirico moving to NBC is posturing for eventually taking over for Al Michaels on the Emmy-winning Sunday Night Football coverage.
This is a power move for NBC, which has quietly grown its sports programming too rival that of ESPN in prestige. Adding Tirico is a big move that NBC is hoping will continue to help make them a premiere sports network.
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