WWW- The game of musical chairs surrounding NFL TV coverage for 2006 finally ended Thursday when NBC confirmed many reports Al Michaels would join its new Sunday night package as the play-by-play man.
Michaels earlier this week extracted himself from a contract with ESPN to work its games on Mondays and almost immediately was reunited at NBC with analyst John Madden, his partner on ABC until it gave up "Monday Night Football'' after the '05 season.
Michaels and Madden will debut on NBC at the Hall of Fame Game Aug. 6, the weekend Madden is inducted into the Hall.
NBC will precede its games with a studio show as part of what it is calling "Football Night in America.'' That show will be co-hosted by Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth.
"If you had asked me in mid-summer if I was really going to be able to pull this off, I would have said there's no way in hell, but that didn't stop me from trying,'' said NBC sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who initially tried to sign both Madden and Michaels.
"As it's come to pass over the last six months, I've learned more clearly than ever before, patience really does pay off.''
Michaels and Madden work their first regular-season game on NBC on Sept. 7, the night of the NFL's regular season opener.
