Tony Dungy is leaving Football Night in America.
Dungy confirmed Thursday that NBC informed him he won’t be back on the show this fall, ending a 17-year run with the network.
“I have been informed by NBC that I won’t be back with FNIA this fall and it has given me time to reflect and also to look ahead,” Dungy wrote. “It’s disappointing news but I want to thank my NBC family for making the last 17 years so special. I’ll have lasting memories of my time there, especially with Rodney Harrison who has become a tremendous friend.”
I have been informed by NBC that I won’t be back with FNIA this fall and it has given me time to reflect and also to look ahead.
It’s disappointing news but I want to thank my NBC family for making the last 17 years so special. I’ll have lasting memories of my time there,… pic.twitter.com/Q01cHIjkjm
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) March 12, 2026
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported in late February that Dungy was “likely out” as NBC prepared to revamp FNIA for next season, with the network planning to take the show fully on the road rather than splitting between its Stamford, CT headquarters and a separate satellite studio. That satellite setup — Dungy, Harrison, and Jac Collinsworth traveling to each Sunday Night Football game site — had long made for a disjointed viewing experience, with two separate panels that rarely cohered into a single show.
Dungy’s exit was described as one of the first decisions in a broader overhaul. Awful Announcing subsequently reported that Harrison is also unlikely to return and that Collinsworth’s role on the show is in question, with some involved in the show frustrated that they were learning about potential changes through media reports rather than directly from NBC.
Dungy’s final season had its own turbulence independent of NBC’s restructuring plans. For Super Bowl LX, NBC sent Dungy, Harrison, and Collinsworth to broadcast pregame coverage live from Alcatraz Island, which, in hindsight, seems like a fitting visual metaphor for a satellite studio that had always operated at a remove from the rest of the show. Dungy refused on air to say whether he had voted for Bill Belichick on his Pro Football Hall of Fame ballot after one of the greatest head coaches of all time was denied entry into Canton, prompting Harrison — standing right next to him on that island — to tell him: “You guys got it wrong.”
Whether they got it wrong or not, NBC made its own call a few weeks later.
As for what comes next, Dungy said he isn’t sure. “Whether it will be in football, in broadcasting, or getting more involved in church and community outreach — I know God has plans for my life and I can’t wait to see them unfold,” he wrote, citing Romans 8:28.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.