NBC has a new college football broadcast team just a year ahead of its pending acquisition of a Big Ten package.
The New York Post reported Sunday that NBC will name Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett its new broadcast team for Notre Dame football games, replacing Mike Tirico and Drew Brees. The pair worked together on USFL games this past season.
Collinsworth is the latest in what has been a relatively star-studded rotation of Notre Dame play-by-play voices, occupying a position previously held by Tirico, Dan Hicks and Tom Hammond. Preceding Garrett in the analyst role were Brees, Doug Flutie, Mike Mayock and Pat Haden.
The Notre Dame role is notable as NBC is expected to begin televising a regular package of Big Ten football games next year. As the voices of Notre Dame football, Collinsworth and Garrett technically comprise NBC’s lead college football broadcast team — meaning they could be in the running to call those Big Ten games next season.
Given that NBC does not have a deep bench of football broadcasters, the choice for Big Ten games may come down to Collinsworth and Garrett or bringing in outside talent.
NBC’s Notre Dame team has long served as a football “B” team for the network. In years when NBC has carried a second NFL Wild Card game, its Notre Dame play-by-play voice called said game every year (Hammond from 2006-11, Hicks from 2012-14, Tirico since). Collinsworth will not get that opportunity — at least not this season — as former Sunday Night Football voice Al Michaels is in line to call the second Wild Card game.
(News from NYP 8.14)
