A month after announcing his retirement from the NFL and his long-rumored decision to join NBC Sports, Drew Brees has his first announced role with the network.
Brees will call Notre Dame football games this season for the network, working alongside Mike Tirico. Sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen also returns. The network announced the news on Thursday.
Last season, Tony Dungy called Fighting Irish games last season with Tirico, replacing Doug Flutie. NBC did not announce studio plans for this season on Thursday. Last year, Flutie worked in the studio with host Jac Collinsworth.
NBC also announced their Notre Dame schedule for the 2021 season, which will consist of seven games. All seven games are scheduled for NBC, and all times are Eastern. The highlight is the October 23rd game vs USC, airing in primetime.
- September 11th: Notre Dame vs Toledo, 2:30 PM
- September 18th: Notre Dame vs Purdue, 2:30 PM
- October 2nd: Notre Dame vs Cincinnati, 2:30 PM
- October 23rd: Notre Dame vs USC, 7:30 PM
- October 30th: Notre Dame vs North Carolina, 7:30 PM
- November 6th: Notre Dame vs Navy, 3:30 PM
- November 20th: Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech, 2:30 PM
Additionally, the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday will be streaming exclusively on Peacock.
The Notre Dame gig seems like a decent enough starting point for Brees’ broadcasting career. It’s not the high profile Sunday Night Football role, replacing an entrenched figure like Cris Collinsworth, and its not a studio position where he could blend in with the crowd and not stand out. This feels like a good stepping stone position for Brees if he’s truly going to become a top NFL game analyst like Collinsworth or Tony Romo.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.