The Bus Opens a New Door
TORINO, Italy--Feb. 19, 2006--Super Bowl champion Jerome Bettis, the National Football League's most popular player, fifth-best rusher of all-time and a six-time Pro Bowl selection, joins NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show as an analyst. The announcement was made tonight when Bettis joined NBC's Olympic host Bob Costas during NBC's Torino Winter Olympics primetime broadcast from the NBC Olympics Studio at the International Broadcast Center in Torino.
"America followed 'The Bus' to the Super Bowl just two weeks ago in his hometown of Detroit, and I was awed by how many people were engrossed in seeing his great career culminate in a championship, and seeing the grace and class with which he handled his retirement. He's the kind of guy that people want to invite into their living rooms every week," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics and executive producer of NBC's "Football Night in America."
"Jerome is considered the ultimate team player, he's always been considered a great guy to have in your locker room, something that is so important to me when putting our broadcast team together. He simply blew us away during his audition, which was especially impressive, given that it was less than 12 hours after the Baltimore-Pittsburgh Monday night game in October. I am absolutely thrilled to have the team of Bob, Cris and 'The Bus' in our studio, with more still to come."
Bettis said: "I am looking forward to this new opportunity and to still be involved in the game I love. After retiring I wondered what I was going to do on Sundays, but now I still have a place to go every Sunday night. When the regular season kicks off in Pittsburgh in September it will be the proudest night of my life, I will finally get my ring and I will start my new career in television in front of all the Steelers fans."
NBC's first regular season game, "NFL Kickoff 2006," will launch the 2006 NFL regular season on Thursday Sept. 7 in primetime.
"The Bus" finished his NFL career two weeks ago after 13 seasons, retiring immediately following the Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL in his hometown of Detroit.
Costas, a 17-time Emmy Award winner, will host NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show alongside co-host Cris Collinsworth, the most honored studio analyst in history with five Emmy Awards, and Bettis. Al Michaels and John Madden, the most honored NFL broadcast team on television, will call NBC's "Sunday Night NFL Football" games.
Bettis, who turned 34 on Thursday, ranks fifth on the NFL's all-time rushing list with 13,294 yards and is one of six players in NFL history to rush for 13,000 yards. He is one of only eight players in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards for eight or more seasons. He ranks third in NFL history with 3,369 rushing attempts. Bettis was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in 1993 and followed the team in their move to St. Louis in 1995. He signed with the Steelers prior to the 1996 season, where he spent the remaining 10 seasons of his career.
Bettis finished his college career at Notre Dame averaging 5.7 yards per carry. He was the subject of 80 football cards in his rookie year in 1993. He is an avid bowler with a lifetime average of better than 200 and has bowled a perfect game. Bettis was introduced to sports by his parents, John and Gladys, to keep him off the streets and out of trouble. His parents attended all but two of their son's games in his 13 years in the NFL. The only two games they missed were played outside of the country.
"America followed 'The Bus' to the Super Bowl just two weeks ago in his hometown of Detroit, and I was awed by how many people were engrossed in seeing his great career culminate in a championship, and seeing the grace and class with which he handled his retirement. He's the kind of guy that people want to invite into their living rooms every week," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics and executive producer of NBC's "Football Night in America."
"Jerome is considered the ultimate team player, he's always been considered a great guy to have in your locker room, something that is so important to me when putting our broadcast team together. He simply blew us away during his audition, which was especially impressive, given that it was less than 12 hours after the Baltimore-Pittsburgh Monday night game in October. I am absolutely thrilled to have the team of Bob, Cris and 'The Bus' in our studio, with more still to come."
Bettis said: "I am looking forward to this new opportunity and to still be involved in the game I love. After retiring I wondered what I was going to do on Sundays, but now I still have a place to go every Sunday night. When the regular season kicks off in Pittsburgh in September it will be the proudest night of my life, I will finally get my ring and I will start my new career in television in front of all the Steelers fans."
NBC's first regular season game, "NFL Kickoff 2006," will launch the 2006 NFL regular season on Thursday Sept. 7 in primetime.
"The Bus" finished his NFL career two weeks ago after 13 seasons, retiring immediately following the Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL in his hometown of Detroit.
Costas, a 17-time Emmy Award winner, will host NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show alongside co-host Cris Collinsworth, the most honored studio analyst in history with five Emmy Awards, and Bettis. Al Michaels and John Madden, the most honored NFL broadcast team on television, will call NBC's "Sunday Night NFL Football" games.
Bettis, who turned 34 on Thursday, ranks fifth on the NFL's all-time rushing list with 13,294 yards and is one of six players in NFL history to rush for 13,000 yards. He is one of only eight players in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards for eight or more seasons. He ranks third in NFL history with 3,369 rushing attempts. Bettis was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in 1993 and followed the team in their move to St. Louis in 1995. He signed with the Steelers prior to the 1996 season, where he spent the remaining 10 seasons of his career.
Bettis finished his college career at Notre Dame averaging 5.7 yards per carry. He was the subject of 80 football cards in his rookie year in 1993. He is an avid bowler with a lifetime average of better than 200 and has bowled a perfect game. Bettis was introduced to sports by his parents, John and Gladys, to keep him off the streets and out of trouble. His parents attended all but two of their son's games in his 13 years in the NFL. The only two games they missed were played outside of the country.
He arrived in Torino today with his parents.
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This is totally the best news ever! He is going to make such a great announcer. The Bus is so cool and nice and he always has funny things to say. I hope he says "Time to make the doughnuts" as his first statement ever on NBC. I would die.
Bettina
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