SARNI: Collinsworth leaves Fox to join NBC NFL studio show

First John Madden.Now Cris Collinsworth.NBC's return to the NFL is looking stronger and stronger.Collinsworth, who has won five Sports Emmys for his studio work, is leaving the Fox broadcast booth to return to NBC as studio analyst and co-host of Sunday Night Football, which will start in 2006."This is a homecoming for Cris and it delights me to welcome him home to NBC Sports," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, who gave Collinsworth, the former Cincinnati Benagls receiver, his start from 1990-96."He is simply the best studio analyst in football. Since the day we started talking to the NFL about NBC's Sunday Night Football I knew this studio show was going to be a special place where people will gather for Football Night in America to watch highlights and analysis of the best games and the news and issues of the day. - NFL Football -
The very first call I made was to Cris."Collinsworth, 46, has been an NFL analyst for the past seven years for Fox. He has also been with HBO's Inside the NFL for the past 15 years. Bob Costas, who work with Collinsworth on HBO, is expected to be the host of the NBC show."It's good to be home myself, back with the guys that taught me the business; the guys that showed me the ropes early on and allowed me to make a living doing this for the last few years," Collinsworth said.Loyality - and perhaps money - convinced Collinsworth to sign a six-year deal "I'll start with the loyalty factor with Dick [Ebersol]," Collinsworth said about the move. "Here's a guy that gave me my first job in television, gave me a national forum doing the Notre Dame games, allowed me to do a national championship game about five years before I was really ready to do one. - NFL Football -
"That kind of got me jump-started. He promoted me to the No. 2 team early in my career with Marv Albert, and moved me into the studio for the first time, so there was a real feeling that I owed the guy. When somebody is the first to give you a chance to do some of this stuff, it's really a great opportunity."Ebersol said that NBC's studio show will be ground-breaking."It will be a show that has a real edge to it," he said. "Obviously, one of the major reasons that I wanted Cris and John Madden [Sunday Night Football analyst] so much in our employ is that I look at them as being the two most credible, energetic, passionate, curious people involved with football."The pre-game show obviously will be the first place for a real look at all the games of the day. This is really an opportunity to go through the games and the issues of the day in a way that has never been done before on network television. - NFL Football -
This is an instantaneous look at all the issues of the day while they are fresh in everybody's mind, including the audience's mind.""Most studio shows rehash and reanalyze what happened in the games the week before," Collinsworth said. "With this primetime game on NBC I will be the first person to comment on the games and issues that happened that day."

South Florida Sun-Sentinel