It took a little work, but NBC managed to acquire superstar sportscaster Al Michaels in a blockbuster trade from ESPN that will shake up the Monday Night Football broadcast booth and see Michaels reteamed with <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post> </FORM>John Madden on Sunday nights.
Michaels didn't come cheaply. The Peacock had to come up with a package deal that included making expanded highlight clips available to ESPN of such events as the Olympics and Notre Dame football, selling ESPN Friday coverage of the next four <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post> </FORM>Ryder Cup golf tournaments and, the coup de grace, giving ESPN parent Disney complete rights to the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. The short 'toons were created by Walt Disney in 1927, and Oswald is considered a precursor to Mickey Mouse.
The move comes just days after Michaels hosted Super Bowl XL, what had been presumed to be his last football game with MNF partner Madden. The 69-year-old Madden, who tag-teamed with Michaels for the past four seasons, decided to jump to NBC after the Peacock acquired rights to Sunday night NFL games beginning next fall. ABC subsequently handed off its MNF franchise to sibling cable network ESPN.
Michaels, 61, initially signaled he was staying with MNF, signing an eight-year, $4 million deal in July. "I feel like I'm a creature of Monday night. I'm home and I'm staying home," Michaels told reporters at the time. "The three words Monday Night Football resonate like no other."
But in recent weeks he was portrayed as waffling, especially after longtime MNF producer Fred Gaudelli also joined the NBC lineup, which also will include Michaels' longtime friend and fellow Emmy winner Bob Costas and Chris Collinsworth anchoring the pregame festivities.
I began to realize more and more how much I was going to miss being with those people," Michaels said in a conference call Thursday. "That's my family...my broadcasting family."
A four-time Emmy winner, Michaels is considered one of the best, most versatile voices in the business. He joined ABC back in 1976 and took over MNF duties in 1986. Aside from football, he has done play-by-play for NBA games, the Olympics (his "do you believe in miracles?!" hockey call at the 1984 Lake Placid games is a classic) and Major League Baseball. In joining NBC, he bowed out from working as ABC lead NBA announcer for the rest of the season, being replaced by Mike Breen.
"Al was not comfortable and let us know he was not comfortable with our vision of where we are going," John Skipper, ESPN's executive vice president, said in a conference call Wednesday. "We want to work with the people who want to work with us. We made a decision quickly to move on."
With Michaels gone, ESPN will completely renovate the MNF booth for the first time in two decades. Mike Tirico will serve as play-by-play man, joining analysts Joe Theisman, a former pro quarterback, and Tony Kornheister, a Washington Post columnist who also hosts ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.
Michaels didn't come cheaply. The Peacock had to come up with a package deal that included making expanded highlight clips available to ESPN of such events as the Olympics and Notre Dame football, selling ESPN Friday coverage of the next four <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post> </FORM>Ryder Cup golf tournaments and, the coup de grace, giving ESPN parent Disney complete rights to the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. The short 'toons were created by Walt Disney in 1927, and Oswald is considered a precursor to Mickey Mouse.
The move comes just days after Michaels hosted Super Bowl XL, what had been presumed to be his last football game with MNF partner Madden. The 69-year-old Madden, who tag-teamed with Michaels for the past four seasons, decided to jump to NBC after the Peacock acquired rights to Sunday night NFL games beginning next fall. ABC subsequently handed off its MNF franchise to sibling cable network ESPN.
Michaels, 61, initially signaled he was staying with MNF, signing an eight-year, $4 million deal in July. "I feel like I'm a creature of Monday night. I'm home and I'm staying home," Michaels told reporters at the time. "The three words Monday Night Football resonate like no other."
But in recent weeks he was portrayed as waffling, especially after longtime MNF producer Fred Gaudelli also joined the NBC lineup, which also will include Michaels' longtime friend and fellow Emmy winner Bob Costas and Chris Collinsworth anchoring the pregame festivities.
I began to realize more and more how much I was going to miss being with those people," Michaels said in a conference call Thursday. "That's my family...my broadcasting family."
A four-time Emmy winner, Michaels is considered one of the best, most versatile voices in the business. He joined ABC back in 1976 and took over MNF duties in 1986. Aside from football, he has done play-by-play for NBA games, the Olympics (his "do you believe in miracles?!" hockey call at the 1984 Lake Placid games is a classic) and Major League Baseball. In joining NBC, he bowed out from working as ABC lead NBA announcer for the rest of the season, being replaced by Mike Breen.
"Al was not comfortable and let us know he was not comfortable with our vision of where we are going," John Skipper, ESPN's executive vice president, said in a conference call Wednesday. "We want to work with the people who want to work with us. We made a decision quickly to move on."
With Michaels gone, ESPN will completely renovate the MNF booth for the first time in two decades. Mike Tirico will serve as play-by-play man, joining analysts Joe Theisman, a former pro quarterback, and Tony Kornheister, a Washington Post columnist who also hosts ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.