Mike Tirico

Michael Todd Tirico (/tɪˈriːkoʊ/; born December 13, 1966) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the lead play-by-play announcer for NBC Sunday Night Football, having replaced Al Michaels in 2022, and became the lead play-by-play announcer for NBC's NBA coverage in 2025. Tirico is also the primary primetime host for the Olympics on NBC and the host of Triple Crown races on NBC.

From 1997 to 2006, Tirico served as lead announcer for the PGA Tour on ABC. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico served as a play-by-play announcer on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Tirico has called a multitude of sports in his career, including the NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, golf, tennis, and World Cup soccer.

Tirico left ESPN after 25 years with the network when his contract expired in mid-2016, and was subsequently hired by NBC Sports. Tirico debuted during NBC's coverage of the 2016 Open Championship and has since served as the network's lead host for golf coverage.

With NBC Sports, Tirico has hosted NBC's coverage of the Indianapolis 500, was the lead play-by-play for Notre Dame Football on NBC, hosted Football Night in America, and hosted NBC's coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Tirico was born in New York City to an Italian American mother and an African American father. He grew up in the borough of Queens, graduating from Bayside High School. In 1988, he graduated from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Arts and Sciences as a dually enrolled student at Syracuse University. At Syracuse, he was the first recipient of the Robert Costas scholarship.

Tirico joined ESPN in 1991 as a SportsCenter anchor, after four years as sports director at CBS affiliate WTVH in Syracuse, New York, during his undergraduate years at Syracuse University. Tirico was noted for his versatile nature and the variety of assignments he handled for SportsCenter. Tirico was the first host seen on ESPNews.

Tirico also handled the play-by-play for ESPN's Thursday night college football package (1997 to 2005), college basketball coverage (1997 to 2002), NBA coverage (2002 to 2016), and golf coverage for ESPN/ABC (1997 to 2015). He also hosted studio coverage of various ESPN and ABC covered events, including a stint on ESPN's Monday Night Countdown (previously known as NFL Prime Monday) from 1993 to 2001 and ABC's NBA studio shows. He also broadcast NBA games on ESPN/ABC and play-by-play for the NBA Finals on ESPN Radio. He anchored the 2009 U.S. Open (tennis) and co-anchored the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euro 2016 (his last assignment at ESPN/ABC).

Tirico was one of the subjects covered in Mike Freeman's 2000 book ESPN: An Uncensored History, where accounts of misconduct involving him sexually harassing and stalking at least six women led to an employment suspension for three months in 1992.