Al Michaels is one of the most renowned sports commentators in the sporting world. He is best known for his work as a play-by-play announcer for the National Football League. Aside from American football, he has also covered a multitude of sports such as baseball, basketball, ice hockey, horse racing, and even the Summer and Winter Olympics. In this article, however, we will talk about Al Michael’s net worth in 2022.
| Net Worth | $30 million |
| Age | 77 |
| Salary | $6 million per year |
| Sponsors | N/A |
| Profession | Sportscaster |
Al Michaels’ Net Worth in 2022 (estimate): $30 million
Al Michaels’ net worth in 2022 is estimated to be at $30 million. This is agreed upon by multiple reputable sources such as Celebrity Net Worth.
Before we take a deep dive into his decades-long work as a sportscaster, let’s first discuss his beginnings and how he got into sportscasting in the first place.
Alan Richard Michaels was born on November 12, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York. He was born to Jay Leonard Michaels and Lila Rongisky/Ross, a Jewish family. Growing up in Brooklyn, Al Michaels was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. Coincidentally, his family moved to Los Angeles in 1958, the same year the Dodgers left Brooklyn.
After moving to Los Angeles, Al Michaels attended and graduated from the Alexander Hamilton High School in 1962. He then joined Arizona State University where he majored in radio and television and minored in journalism. During his collegiate years, Al Michaels worked as a sports writer for ASU’s independent student newspaper, The State Press. He also called games for the Sun Devils’ football, basketball, and baseball games for the campus radio station.
Al Michaels’ first job in television was with Chuck Barris Productions where he chose the women that will appear in the game show titled “The Dating Game”. However, his first sportscasting job came in 1967 where he was hired to do public relations for the Los Angeles Lakers. On top of that, he also served as a color commentator on the team’s radio broadcasts where he was partnered with veteran play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn.
Unfortunately, he was only able to call four games before being fired.
“It was a shattering experience,” Michaels said. “I had told all my friends that I’d be working with Chick, and then I wasn’t.
At first, Michaels blamed Chick Hearn. But, eventually, he realized that it was all Jack Kent Cooke’s — the one that hired him — fault.
“I was a sacrificial lamb,” Michaels said. “Cooke wanted to bring in Hot Rod Hundley to work with Chick, and he needed a buffer so Chick would get used to the idea. And that was me.”
After a while, Michaels revitalized his broadcasting career in 1968 where he worked as a sports anchor and called play-by-play for a minor league baseball team called the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League.
He also called games for the University of Hawaii’s football and basketball teams, as well as local high school football games. The following year, he was named Hawaii’s Sportscaster of the Year.
In 1971, Michaels became the radio play-by-play commentator for the Cincinnati Reds of the Major League Baseball. The following year, the Reds advanced to the World Series after winning the National League Championship Series.
In the same year, he also covered the hockey coverage of NBC Sports during the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.
His first NFL game came in 1973 when he was brought in as a replacement for NBC announcer Bill Ennis after he tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 39. Due to this, Al Michaels called the NFL regular-season finale between the Houston Oilers and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Al Michaels then moved back to California to call games for the San Francisco Giants, as well as the basketball games for UCLA during the time of their 88-game win streak. He then left NBC to call regional NFL games for CBS Sports in 1975. The following year, he joined ABC Sports part-time to call their coverage of Monday Night Baseball.
All of this, obviously, while early in his career, helped with Al Michaels’ net worth in 2022.
In January 1977, Al Michaels signed a contract with ABC Sports to make him a full-time employee with the network. In the first few years, he split the baseball duties with Keith Jackson. In 1983, however, Al Michaels became ABC Sports’ lead baseball announcer.
Al Michaels then became a prominent figure with ABC Sports as he covered multiple sports and events such as Major League Baseball, college football, Monday Night Football, college basketball, ice hockey, track and field, horse racing, golf, boxing, figure skating, road cycling, and even the Olympic Games.
Aside from that, he also covered the Stanley Cup Finals from 2000 to 2002. He also hosted the annual Tiger Woods Monday night specials. He also featured in episodes of Wide World of Sports as well as the ESPN Classic comedy series Cheap Seats.
One of Al Michaels’ most famous broadcasts was during the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey medal round between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The Miracle on Ice was the ice hockey game wherein the United States team, composed of college players, faced off against a heavily-favored professional squad from the Soviet Union. The American won the game 4-3 and Michaels’ line of “Do you believe in miracles? YES!” became memorable which garnered the media nickname of The Miracle on Ice.
Aside from memorable ice hockey games, Al Michaels has also covered a lot of noteworthy MLB events such as 1983, 1985, 1987, and 1989 World Series.
In 1994, ABC partnered with the MLB for the first time since 1989 and created a joint-venture broadcast with NBC called The Baseball Network. Unfortunately, the player’s strike in 1994 forced ABC and NBC to dissolve The Baseball Network at the end of the 1995 season.
Al Michaels also covered NBA games for ABC. He was brought in after a disastrous rating performance in the 2003 NBA Finals. Unfortunately, he was criticized for the lack of enthusiasm and confidence that he brings as a play-by-play announcer. He also made long-winded explanations in which he talked over two or three possessions.
A lot of his peers attributed his subpar performance to him not being a basketball guy and that Al Michaels was better suited for baseball or football broadcasts.
As for his NFL coverage, Al Michaels’ longest-running assignment was the lead play-by-play announcer for ABC’s Monday Night Football coverage as he held the post for 20 seasons, beginning in 1986. However, rumors emerged that he won’t be with ABC when his partner, the late, great John Madden, announced that he would be joining NBC Sports.
At that time, NBC Sports’ coverage of Sunday Night Football was the premier NFL broadcast package and ESPN’s Monday Night Football was relegated to secondary match-ups.
On February 9, 2006, it became official that Al Michaels would be joining John Madden on NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcasts, effectively ending his 20-year tenure on Monday Night Football and his almost 30 years of service with ABC. This was huge in adding to Al Michaels’ net worth in 2022.
As part of the deal, NBCUniversal gave ESPN the rights to the next four Ryder Cups, more Olympic coverage, and sold to Disney the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Since his move to NBC, Al Michaels has been the face of Sunday Night Football for NBC. He has also covered four Super Bowls with the network.
On top of his NFL work, Michaels returned to the Olympic side of things as he hosted multiple Summer and Winter Olympic Games for NBC. He has also teamed up with Bob Costas to call baseball games for the MLB Network.
Ironically, ESPN was looking to bring back Al Michaels to partner him up with Peyton Manning on their Monday Night Football broadcast. However, NBC rejected the trade offers that ESPN sent in order to lure Michaels back to their network.
Most recently, rumors are claiming that Al Michaels is planning to move to Amazon, which will be taking over the NFL’s Thursday Night Football Package starting this year. This move is contractually possible as he is tied up with NBC until Super Bowl LVI only.
Al Michaels Awards and Honors:
- 5x Sports Emmy Award Winner – Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play
- 3x NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year
- Sportscaster of the Year – American Sportscaster Association
- Sportscaster of the Year – Washington Journalism Review
- ASA Top 50 Sportscasters of All Time
- 2002 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism
- Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters “Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award”
- Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Inducted into the NSMA Hall of Fame – Class of 1998
- Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame – Class of 2013
- 2013 Pete Rozelle Radio & Television Award – Pro Football Hall of Fame
- 2021 Ford C. Frick Award Winner – Baseball Hall of Fame
Aside from his work in sports, Al Michaels appeared in several movie and TV shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Jerry Maguire, BASEketball, Coach, and Spin City. He also re-recorded all of his lines, except for the “Immortal” line, in the 2004 film Miracle which is about the US ice hockey team that won the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
He also lent his voice in video games like Hardball III and the Madden NFL series where he featured alongside John Madden from Madden NFL 2003 to Madden NFL 09.
To this day, Al Michaels continues to be one of the best sportscasters and he is almost synonymous with the Monday Night and Sunday Night Football broadcasts.
With that being said, were you surprised about Al Michaels’ net worth in 2022?
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