Report details significant role for Mike Tirico in NBC’s NBA package

Mike Tirico, one of the most recognizable faces and voices in sports broadcasting, will be a big part of NBC’s new NBA package.

One idea has been that, when the NFL season is complete, NBC will air Sunday Night Basketball in a format similar to the current Sunday Night Football arrangement.

Citing Rick Cordella, the president of NBC Sports, Richard Deitsch detailed how Tirico, who is the lead announcer for Sunday Night Football, would have the same role with Sunday Night Basketball.

“Cordella said NBC plans on Mike Tirico being the “A” voice on NBC’s NBA games,” Deitsch wrote. “NBC will obviously need multiple game teams and studio analysts given the inventory. “Sunday Night Basketball should end prior to 11 p.m. ET, which will provide the ability for a quick postgame wrap-up before getting off the air for nightly news and other programming. In theory, Peacock could pick up studio coverage after that. ‘There are still lots of details to be sort of settled out,’ Cordella said when asked about a Sunday night NBA show on Peacock.”

Tirico has a lot of experience calling basketball. He called both college basketball and NBA games on ESPN/ABC in his long tenure at Disney before going to NBC in 2016.

It was also announced that “Roundball Rock,” John Tesh’s popular song which was a staple of the NBA on NBC during the 1990s and early 2000s, will return.

[NYTimes.com (The Athletic)]