Al Michaels exits ABC Sports, thought to be joining NBC's football team

Longtime ABC announcer Al Michaels will not be part of the broadcast team when ESPN takes over "Monday Night Football."

ADVERTISEMENT

Speculation is that Michaels will be named to the team of NBC's "Sunday Night Football," The Hollywood Reporter said Wednesday.

ESPN's John Skipper explained Michael's departure by saying he "was not comfortable and let us know he was not comfortable with the way that we were going.

"We want to work with the people who want to work with us," Skipper continued. "We made a decision quickly to move on."

The "Monday Night Football" ESPN broadcast team was announced Wednesday as Mike Tirico, Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser. Joining them on the sidelines will be reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya, as well as producer/director Jay Rothman and Chip Dean.

Michaels had been with ABC Sports for 30 years, handing play-by-play for the network's NBA coverage as well as pro football.

ABC said its NBA games will be handled by Mike Breen and Hubie Brown starting Sunday.

As for the speculation that Michaels will join John Madden on the NBC Sunday night crew, the Peacock Network had no comment, The Reporter said.