Will the 2021 NFL season mark the end of Al Michaels' illustrious play-by-play career?
The short is answer is that no one knows, including the 76-year-old broadcasting icon.
“If it doesn’t click for me the way it has, I’ll be the first to know,” Michaels said in a conference call Wednesday, which included Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “I won’t play out the string to set some sort of record and be a burden on anyone. I feel good physically and mentally.”
There's long been a thought that 2021 could be Michaels' final year as the voice of Sunday Night Football with Mike Tirico waiting in the wings at NBC. Given that Michaels will broadcast Super Bowl LVI in his hometown of Los Angeles, some feel like this would be a logical time for him to retire, especially given that his deal with NBC concludes after this upcoming season.
Ultimately, though, Michaels will probably call NFL games as long as he wants. And just because him calling the Super Bowl in his hometown would seem like a storybook ending to some doesn't mean Michaels will view things that way.
Super Bowl LVI might be Michaels' final game broadcasting for NBC, but if he becomes a free agent, there will be plenty of interest in him, even at this advanced stage of his career. Andrew Marchand of The New York Post reported in June that Amazon Prime Video -- which will become the exclusive home to Thursday Night Football in 2022 -- is targeting Michaels to potentially be their play-by-play voice. One would think that ESPN might also be interested in having Michaels return to Monday Night Football if he became available.
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