NFL changes its mind; Mike Tirico to call 'Thursday Night Football' for NBC

After blocking him last season, NFL allows Mike Tirico to call Thursday Night Football on NBC.

MIke Tirico has been broadcasting on network television since 1991.

However, the improvement in his work from 2016 to 2017 must have been truly astonishing to the National Football League.

According to Sports Business Journal, Tirico will call all the Thursday Night Football games for NBC this upcoming season. NBC had wanted Tirico to do the same last season (with Al Michaels remaining in the booth for the Sunday night game), but the NFL vetoed the idea and Tirico only did a few fill-in games.

Cris Collinsworth will remain NBC's analyst for both the Thursday and Sunday games.

The NFL released the following statement to Sports Business Journal: “Although there have been a number of changes in the networks’ broadcast booths over the past couple of seasons, our priority, and the priority of our network partners remains the same – produce a high quality, engaging broadcast that our fans love whether its Thursday, Sunday or Monday. For ‘TNF,’ we get that with Mike Tirico, a terrific broadcaster, and Cris Collinsworth at NBC and the new team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo at CBS.”

So, to reiterate, Tirico's resumè wasn't good enough for the NFL last year, but it's totally fine now.