NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football adds new faces
STAMFORD — The most-watched show in primetime returns this week — with a roster that has changed significantly since last season.
“Sunday Night Football,” which is produced by Stamford-based NBC Sports, embarks on its coverage of the 2022 NFL season, which kicks off Thursday, with a new playby-play announcer, Mike Tirico, and a new sideline reporter, Melissa Stark. NBC Sports officials say what has not changed, however, is the commitment to excellence on a show that has ranked as the most-watched primetime program for a record 11 straight years.
“What has made ‘Sunday Night Football’ the gold standard in sports television is best-in-class storytelling and coverage of the football game, and those two things will remain the same,” SNF coordinating producer Rob Hyland, who is in his first year as a lead producer for the show, said on a media conference call last Thursday.
There will, however, be some adjustments to how SNF presents the action.
“The show is going to have a new look with a new graphic presentation,” Hyland said. “There’s a couple new camera angles. I think, for the TV fan and the TV-production fan, you’ll notice some slight tweaks.”
As he succeeds Al Michaels as SNF’s play-byplay announcer, Tirico already ranks as one of the most-experienced football announcers. This fall marks his 17th consecutive season calling NFL primetime games.
Since his arrival at NBC Sports in 2016, Tirico has served as on-site and studio host of NBC Sports’ “Football Night in America,” which precedes SNF each Sunday. In addition, he and SNF analyst Collinsworth have teamed to call 22 NFL games since 2016. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico worked as the play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”
In addition to his NFL announcing, Tirico also serves as NBC Sports’ prime-time Olympics host.
“There’s nobody better than Cris, (with) 17 Emmys. Year after year after year, he is the standard, and what an honor it is to sit next to him for these (18) weeks,” Tirico said on the call. “We kind of stumbled over this fact a little bit ago, Melissa and I actually worked together 20 years ago on a prime-time madefor-TV golf show featuring Tiger Woods.”
Tirico added that, “we all have spent some time together here in the off-season and can’t wait to get this thing going with the best schedule in the NFL TV package, that Sunday night schedule.”
Collinsworth, who has returned for his 14th season with SNF, expressed similar enthusiasm.
“No matter how many times you do this first game, it never gets old,” Collinsworth said on the call. “There is a buzz knowing that not only are millions of people watching, but the entire league is watching, and everybody
wants to know what opening night looks like. You know, the championship banners and the fans are going crazy, and it’s just a special, special night.”
Before joining NBC Sports, Stark worked 11 years at NFL Network. Among previous roles, she made her NFL broadcast debut on “Monday Night Football” on ABC in 2000.
“I left Monday Night Football to start a family and cover news, so I actually went to NBC News at the time and MSNBC, and then I realized you cannot really have a family and cover breaking news,” Stark said on the call. “So I took a little time off and then went to NFL Network. Sports was always my pasaveraged
sion, so now here I am coming back four teenagers later, and so excited to work with the very best in the business, everybody on this call, and excited about all the new resources that we have on the sidelines.”
Longtime No. 1
During the 2021 NFL regular season, SNF averaged a total of 19.3 million viewers across the NBC network and digital platforms —- up 11 percent from 2020, according to data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. At the same time, SNF ranked as the No. 1 show, for a 12th-consecutive TV season, for viewers ages 18-49, which is a demographic highly valued by advertisers.
In the second NFL season played during the pandemic, SNF still faced uncertainty. But it benefited from games being played again in full-capacity stadiums and less scheduling disruption than in 2020. In the most-watched SNF game of last season and most-watched prime-time program of last fall, an average of 27.2 million saw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 19-17 victory over the New England Patriots on Oct. 3.
SNF’s run as the No. 1 prime-time program has lasted far longer than earlier dynasties. “American Idol,” which previously held the record for the longest No. 1 run, ranked at the top from 2005 to 2011.
Also hugely popular is “Football Night in America,” which is filmed at NBC Sports’ headquarters at 1 Blachley Road and at the stadiums where SNF games are played. FNIA has ranked as sports’ mostwatched weekly studio show for 16 consecutive years. Last season, FNIA
7.1 million viewers during the 7:30 to 8:15 p.m. eastern-time slot — up 18 percent from 2020.
“As I’ve been told by (analyst) Chris Simms, I am not the point guard, I am the quarterback. That means I’ve got to know which routes my teammates want to run,” FNIA host Maria Taylor, who is the show’s first female full-time host, said on a media conference call last Thursday. “When I’m sitting and screening, or we’re watching games at 1 p.m., I need to be listening. I really do take notes if Coach (analyst Tony Dungy) says something interesting, or Chris or (analyst) Jason (Garrett) this year, that I’m just going to write it down in my notes and hope to bring that back up when we get into the studio.”
A total of about 90 Stamford-based people will work on production for SNF and FNIA this season.