You can add ESPN “Monday Night Football” play-by-play voice Joe Buck to the long list of critics with the way NBC handled the Al Michaels saga last month.
In a surprise move, NBC announced last month that Michaels would not be part of their 2023-24 NFL playoff coverage. Noah Eagle (the son of CBS NFL play-by-play voice Ian Eagle) will take Michaels’ spot, with Todd Blackledge working alongside Eagle as the analyst.
Speaking to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post last month, Michaels said he was surprised by the news because NBC didn’t outright tell him. Though he left NBC and signed with Amazon Prime Video for its “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts last year, NBC brought back Michaels to call the Jaguars-Chargers Wild Card Game last year.
Buck appeared on the “Marchand & Ourand” podcast with Marchand and John Ourand and offered his thoughts on NBC’s move decision. Buck was rather critical of the move, saying it truly “sucks” if Michaels didn’t learn the news through NBC first:
“How was he told that he was not doing this playoff game? If you tell me he’s known forever and this is the deal that he signed, that’s one thing. But to find out publicly, and you’re Al Michaels? And I’m happy for Noah Eagle. This has nothing to do with Noah Eagle. Ian Eagle I think is phenomenal. Noah’s great and an up-and-coming star in this business. Take them out of it.
How was he alerted to this? Was this in his deal? Did he know beforehand? Did he find out through social media or through you [Marchand]? And if the answer is he found out through you or through social media, then I think that sucks.”
As Marchand noted, NBC gave Michaels an emeritus following his departure in 2022. The 79-year-old was the play-by-play voice of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” program for 16 years from 2006 to 2021.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
In that span, Michaels called five Super Bowls for NBC: Super Bowl 43 (Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals), Super Bowl 46 (New England Patriots vs. New York Giants), Super Bowl 49 (Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks), Super Bowl 52 (Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles) and Super Bowl 56 (Los Angeles Rams vs. Cincinnati Bengals).
Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit called Amazon’s final broadcast of the 2023 season last Thursday. Marchand also noted that Michaels plans to return to the booth next year.
