At a time when there haven’t been many trades in advance of the start of the new league year, there also won’t be many (or any) trades among the NFL media.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that NBC has rejected initial overtures from ESPN regarding a trade for Sunday Night Football play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. ESPN reportedly wants to pair Michaels with Peyton Manning, to whom ESPN reportedly has offered up to $20 million per year.
“We look forward to Al completing his contract and calling Sunday Night Football games on NBC,” NBC Sports spokesman Greg Hughes told Marchand.
Michaels, a legendary figure in sports broadcasting, has two years left on his NBC deal, culminating in Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles. Barring an NBC extension, he will be free and clear at that time to leave for another network, if he so chooses.
And at that time, many believe Monday Night Football will officially move from ESPN to ABC, which could make an Al Michaels return more likely. He bolted from Monday night to Sunday night in large part because Monday Night Football had lost its three-letter network broadcast platform. If/when MNF slide back to ABC, MNF suddenly regains its cachet up the ying-yang.