NBC Sports: Mike Tirico replaces Tom Hammond for 2017 Kentucky Derby telecast
25 April 2017
Cue the bugles. But rewind the tape. Get ready for something different, even if you’ve seen it all 142 times before: The 2017 Kentucky Derby will have a fresh face at the anchor desk, and a new voice in the microphone. One rising-start sportscaster has only ten short days to learn the ropes, the names, the lingo and the numbers of Kentucky Derby broadcasting.
Today NBC Sports announced that football broadcaster and Olympics host-to-be Mike Tirico will step into the dinnerplate-sized hoofprints that longtime Derby anchor Tom Hammond left in the dirt at Churchill Downs every first Saturday in May for more than a decade.
Tirico adds the job to his rapidly expanding resume; NBC recently announced his assignment as host of the network’s prime-time Olympics coverage starting next winter in South Korea.
Kentucky native Hammond, who turns 73 on May 10, will play a reduced role after covering racing for more than 30 years at the network. He will host an anticipatory 30-minute special called “My Kentucky Home” on NBCSN (NBC Sports Network) during the first week in May.
Hammond will also be part of the network’s coverage of the Pyeongchang Games next February. He has covered a dozen Olympics for NBC.
“As I embark on a less demanding schedule at NBC, I can rest assured that the coverage of thoroughbred racing is in good hands,” Hammond said today in an NBC Sports news release. “That sport is very close to my heart, so I am pleased that Mike, a highly accomplished professional, will assume the role as leader of the superb NBC horse racing team.”
This is the second NBC torch passed to Tirico in 2017. It was just in February that longtime Olympics tv host Bob Costas was replaced by Tirico for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Costas, who hosted every Olympics since 1992 for NBC and has provided a thematic voiceover each year, will be on the set at Louisville on May 6 with Tirico.
Tirico, who only joined NBC Sports Group in July 2016, has had a whirlwind first year with the company. In addition to his inaugural role in Rio for the 2016 Olympics Games, he has served as host of Football Night in America, as well as The Open and The Ryder Cup, and the 2016 Breeders Cup. Tirico also handled play-by-play for Sunday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, and Notre Dame college football.
Hammond’s association with NBC Sports dates back to the network’s regional college basketball broadcasts in the late 1970s. His big break came in 1984, when he was hired on what was intended to be a one-time-only basis as a reporter for NBC’s telecast of the inaugural Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. That telecast won the prestigious Eclipse Award, and Hammond has been involved with NBC Sports ever since.
In addition, Hammond also called NBC’s figure skating and college basketball, NBC’s NFL Wildcard playoff game and, from 1992–2013, served as the lead play-by-play voice on Notre Dame Football on NBC.
What started as a one-time network opportunity blossomed into a wide-ranging network career for Hammond.
Tirico may not need the Triple Crown assignment, but American horseracing needs him, or someone like him, to guarantee the highest quality broadcasting of this year’s three-year-old classics series.
We all have a lot riding on Mike Tirico. While some will be calculating the odds of his success or failure, others will be up early in the morning and staying up late at night to help guarantee that Mike Tirico will be solid bet in his brand new game on the first Saturday in May.
