Maria Taylor has officially joined NBC after her contract with ESPN expired less than a week ago.
Before a rerun of the opening ceremony, NBC made the official announcement during their primetime Olympic show on Friday.
Taylor and ESPN revealed on Wednesday that they were unable to reach an agreement on a new deal. Her first assignment with NBC will be the Tokyo Olympics, where she will be a correspondent and join Mike Tirico during the nightly 2 1/2 to 3 hours of “Prime Plus” coverage.
Taylor will also host and contribute to NBC’s “Football Night in America” on Sundays during the NFL season and host the network’s coverage of the Super Bowl this year.
NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said in a statement, “Maria has excelled in a wide range of roles at marquee events and will be a powerful addition to our team. We are always looking to improve, and Maria is going to make us better. We are very excited for her to join us right away in Tokyo.”
Since 2014, Taylor has been a part of ESPN, but her contract expired this week. “NBA Countdown” was her last assignment for the network. Taylor has also been a correspondent for “College GameDay” and ABC’s “Saturday Night Football” since 2017 and has hosted “NBA Countdown” since 2019.
Taylor said in a statement: “Literally, hosting the Olympics, Football Night in America, and the Super Bowl is what I dreamed of when I started in television – and this would not be possible without standing on the shoulders of all of those who came before me and made this path possible. And I plan to pay it forward.”
ESPN has been talking to Taylor about a contract for over a year, but things really heated up in the last month. Last year, Taylor turned down a contract extension, and the two sides were at odds leading into the NBA Finals. Then came an article from The New York Times outlining comments made by Taylor’s colleague Rachel Nichols during the NBA’s return to Florida last year.
Nichols, who is white, was announced as the NBA Finals host in September 2019, but the network ultimately chose Taylor, who is black.
