Dan Patrick Joins NBC’s Football Coverage
To reunite with Keith Olbermann on Football Night in America.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/7/2008 3:44:00 PM
Dan Patrick will join NBC’s Football Night in America, the network said Monday.
The addition of Patrick also reunites him with former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Keith Olbermann, now host of Countdown on MSNBC and contributor to Football Night. Olbermann and Patrick co-anchored “The Big Show” together from 1992-97.
"We are proud to reunite one of the greatest teams in the history of sports broadcasting," NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said in announcing the addition of Patrick. "Dan and Keith were more than successful together -- they defined the way sports highlights are now delivered. Their unique delivery has been sorely missed and now they'll be able to take their act to a primetime network-television audience each Sunday night in the fall."
Patrick will continue to write for Sports Illustrated and host his syndicated radio show while contributing to NBC Sports. He will join Olbermann, Cris Collinsworth, Bob Costas, Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber when Football Night returns this fall.
The announcement came the same day Showtime and CBS Sports announced their talent lineup for Inside the NFL. In fact, Football Night co-host Cris Collinsworth will appear on both programs. Collinsworth said in a conference call Monday that Ebersol signed off on the deal because he thought it would be beneficial to Collinsworth’s career and did not harm NBC in any way.
