The Tirico Pivot That Rewrote Sports TV's Playbook
Mike Tirico left ESPN in 2016 to join NBC as the heir to Costas and Michaels, a calculated risk that upended the sports‑television landscape and helped spark blockbuster NFL deals (Romo, Buck/Aikman, Brady) while securing Tirico's dual dynasty of Super Bowl play‑by‑play and Olympic hosting, a decision he calls transformative and ultimately successful.