Mike Tirico to make history with NBC broadcaster to be first to call Super Bowl LX and Winter Olympics on same day

Mike Tirico will enter a league of his own on Sunday.

The legendary NBC play-by-play sportscaster will make history at Super Bowl LX when he calls the contest between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

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But when the Super Bowl is over, Tirico will be just beginning.

With NBC holding the media rights for the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California, Tirico will become the first broadcaster to call both the NFL‘s biggest event and host the 2026 Winter Olympics in the same year.

But Tirico, who will be joined in the booth by his partner Cris Collinsworth, will also achieve this feat with the two events happening on the same day.

Moments after broadcasting Super Bowl 60 live from Levi’s Stadium – the home of the San Francisco 49ers – Tirico will head down to host NBC’s prime-time broadcast of the Milano Cortina Olympics from a set near the football field.

After he wraps up Day 2 of the Games, he will then race to catch a flight overnight to Milan to resume his hosting duties for the next two weeks of competition, though this time on the ground in Italy.

Talk about being busy.

“I have learned that sleep is something you do when you can,” Tirico said, via the Detroit Free Press.

History beckons

Logistically, though, everything is handled, with the veteran broadcaster wholly prepared for the momentous occasion.

“The fact that it’s on the same channel makes it real easy – you don’t have to move,” Tirico exclusively told talKSPORT on Tuesday.

“You get to tell the stories of each and the other, which we’ve been doing for the last five or six months. I think it’s great, I think it’s great for me. …

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“The Olympics are a completely different entity and have required years of advance work.

“We have two amazing research and production teams in each place – the Olympics and the Sunday Night Football group for the Super Bowl.

“We’re lucky enough to lean on their broad, strong shoulders to do these sports and bring America, really, if you think about it, 17 days and nights back-to-back-back – you’ve got Peacock and NBC, you don’t have to turn the channel – of the best of the best.”

Despite having worked in sports since the 1980’s for the likes of ESPN and in pro football for NBC specifically since 2017, this will be the 59-year-old’s first time calling the ‘Big Game’ – something that is ‘surreal’ to him.

“I’ve worked hard to earn the opportunities to succeed, and earn the trust of the people who have given me those opportunities and not let them down,” Tirico told the New York Post.

“At the end of the day, our job is not that hard, but I do appreciate the fact that hard work can still get you places, and there was no silver spoon in this.

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“So to enjoy these years of these great events, date back to calling semipro football and high school football on local TV in Syracuse in the late ’80s, and to have a chance to do things like the Super Bowl and the Olympics in the same day — they were so out of my mind that they weren’t even part of a dream.

“Like your dream stopped way before you thought about this. So to be here and doing it now, it’s still surreal. But it’s pretty fun.”

Leaving a legacy

Despite becoming set to make history, Tirico only wants to be remembered for calling and documenting the Super Bowl in the right way, and not for his own personal achievements.

“I hope they say that the broadcast was good. I don’t want them to know about me,” said when asked what he hopes viewers will say about him when the game is over.

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“This game, like every game, is not about me. Nobody has ever watched a game for an announcer. An announcer may increase your level of enjoyment, but other than our family and close loved ones, nobody’s watching the game because of who’s calling the game.

“So I just want to do the proper job of documenting the game, informing and entertaining the audience, and you’re on to your next thing in your life.

“It’s the greatest single sporting day in America, people are gathered around their TV.

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“Nobody’s gathering to watch me and Cris [Collinsworth], they’re gathering to enjoy the game. So hopefully you do the right job the right way, and we’re on to Monday morning.“

Although he may not think so, Tirico will undoubtedly leave a legacy after this historic moment, and will simultaneously leave very big shoes to fill for those who will inevitable come after him.

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