Mike Tirico last week insisted that NBC "never told him" he would call the net's "Thursday Night Football" games, "nor was it part of his contractual negotiations," according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. Tirico: "The assumption was just made when I got hired by NBC that I was hired to do Thursday Night but nobody ever said that. When I had to make the decision on making the move (from ESPN to NBC), one of the questions I had was regarding staying involved in the NFL and how much real estate was there at NBC. With NBC getting Thursday Night Football, it added to the real estate, but I wasn’t coming here to do play-by-play or coming to work that night. It was, ‘I’m going there and it will be a long-term play for me.'" Deitsch notes over an 11-week stretch at NBC that began in July, Tirico has hosted the British Open, select nights of the Rio Games and two NFL preseason games. Going forward, he will host "Football Night In America" on Sundays, call a few Notre Dame football games and host the Ryder Cup. Tirico: "That is better than my entire year at ESPN, with no disrespect to those assignments. That’s as good a portfolio as you can have regarding hosting events and variety. Right away that told me what they think of me. I’m super happy with today and what tomorrow will be. I’m not sitting around wondering if this was the right move. ... For the long term, we have not talked about much." NBC Sports Chair Mark Lazarus said, "Our plan when we discussed Mike coming to our company was that he would be involved in football in a very big way and that was always contemplating the Sunday hosting role for Football Night In America and calling some games" (SI.com, 9/4).
