Analyst Cris Collinsworth isn’t leaving NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcasts anytime soon.
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, NBC is “working toward” a deal with Collinsworth that would keep him at the network alongside Mike Tirico through the 2029-30 NFL season.
Marchand didn’t mention any of the exact specifics that we could see in the new deal such as any compensation changes for Collinsworth. But currently, he receives around $12.5 million annually for his role at NBC. The network did not comment.
It’s particularly interesting to see NBC nearing this deal with Collinsworth for several reasons.
The network seemingly tried to hand over the color analyst throne to Drew Brees after bringing him in as a studio analyst and occasional color analyst for the 2021-22 NFL season. But as we now know, the network quickly decided better of that when it came to Brees, parting ways with him after only one season after largely disappointing in his few chances he received in the booth.
And with Fox placing Tom Brady on their No. 1 broadcast team in favor of Greg Olsen, it seemed plausible that we could have potentially seen Olsen move over to NBC alongside Tirico on their top team in the near future. Especially considering Olsen has a clause in his contract that gives him the ability to leave Fox for other opportunities if a No. 1 job opens up elsewhere.
Instead, it seems like Collinsworth will be the guy for the foreseeable future at NBC if the deal is finalized.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.