NBC Adds Mike Tirico, Melissa Stark to Sunday Night Football Crew

NBC announced its new Sunday Night Football broadcast team on Tuesday with the additions of play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and sideline reporter Melissa Stark alongside veteran color analyst Cris Collinsworth.

Tirico had long been the in-house favorite to replace legendary broadcaster Al Michaels after he left NBC for Amazon earlier this offseason. Stark succeeds Michele Tafoya, who departed broadcasting to join the political sector in February.

“Sunday Night Football is destination viewing and we are thrilled to have Mike, Cris and Melissa call the action and tell the stories that football fans have come to expect from primetime TV’s #1 show,” NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua said in a statement.

Tirico and Collinsworth have been building chemistry for quite some time, as they have already called 21 games together over recent years.

While he has anchored NBC’s Football Night in America since 2017, Tirico has filled a variety of hosting roles for the network, including for coverage of the Olympics, the Triple Crown, the Indianapolis 500, the Stanley Cup and Notre Dame football.

Tirico was the play-by-play broadcaster for ESPN’s Monday Night Football before his arrival at NBC.

Stark also has previous experience with Monday Night Football, as she served as the sideline reporter on ABC from 2000 to 2003. She has most recently worked as a reporter for NFL Network.

The trio’s first broadcast together will be the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 4, but their true debut will be the regular season opener on Thursday, Sept. 8.