NBC's first official NFL pre-game show was GrandStand,[1][2] a program that doubled as a competing sports anthology series to ABC's Wide World of Sports during the off-season (GrandStand also served as the pre-game show for NBC's Major League Baseball Game of the Week during the 1976 season).
In 1976, Jack Buck left GrandStand in order to return to the booth as a play-by-play announcer, remaining with NBC.
In his final two seasons on The NFL on NBC, Gumbel served as the sole host for the pre-game show.
Gumbel was subsequently replaced by Len Berman,[7] who was joined by Adamle, Pete Axthelm (who left following the 1985 season) and Ahmad Rashad.
In October 1984, NBC was also covering the World Series between the Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres.
ET), Bob Costas (who anchored NBC's World Series coverage with Len Berman) was still in New York City to host NFL '84.
At the end of the pre-game show, Costas left the New York studio to travel to Detroit to cover that night's baseball game at Tiger Stadium.
In 1991, Bill Parcells (who left after just one season for a role as an in-booth analyst for NBC) joined the team.
Regular host Bob Costas along with O. J. Simpson, play-by-play broadcaster Tom Hammond and analyst Todd Christensen were assigned to cover the world track and field championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Bob Costas held the main hosting position through the 1992 season, but would continue his involvement with The NFL on NBC, albeit in a more limited role such as delivering pre-taped, one-on-one interviews.
For the 1993 season, "Gridiron Dreams" was replaced as the program's theme music by a composition composed by John Colby.
As previously mentioned, Mike Ditka left NBC following the 1996 season to become the head coach of the New Orleans Saints and was replaced by Sam Wyche.