American television sportscaster (born 1977)
Liam McHugh
(born November 2, 1977)
[1]
is an American television sportscaster. He is a studio host for the
NHL on TNT
and
MLS Season Pass
on
Apple TV
. He previously worked on
NBC Sports
coverage of the
NHL
as well as
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
and
NBC Sunday Night Football
. He was also perhaps the face of
NBCSN
, anchoring much of its staple programming, including the NHL, Tour De France, college football, college basketball and the
Premier League
, prior to joining Turner.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
McHugh grew up in Williston Park on
Long Island
and played basketball and soccer at
Herricks High School
. His father, Frank McHugh, was a long-time track coach at a different high school on Long Island called Elmont. McHugh graduated from the
University at Buffalo
and received his master's degree from
Syracuse University
's
S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
in 2004.
[2]
Career
[
edit
]
Prior to joining NBC, he worked at
Newsday
(1999-2001),
WTHI
in
Terre Haute, Indiana
(2004-2007),
KOKH
in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
(2007-2009), and
ESPN The Magazine
(2001-2007). On April 5, 2010,
The Daily Line
debuted with McHugh as host. The show consisted of a four-person panel (host McHugh, handicapper Rob DeAngelis, comedian Reese Waters, and former
Playboy
model
Jenn Sterger
) which discussed, often with heavy satire, sports-related topics that were popular that day and aired on Versus. However, the show was canceled due to low viewership on November 4, 2010. McHugh would be retained by the network to originally work on NHL coverage, mostly on
NHL Overtime
and
Hockey Central
.
[3]
In 2011, McHugh began the year as the host of
NHL Live
, the network's pre- and post-game show that airs before and after each NHL telecast. He also contributed to NBC's
Stanley Cup
coverage, hosting Games 1 and 2. In the summer of 2011, McHugh stepped into the role of host for NBC's live daily coverage of the
Tour de France
. In the fall, he contributed to
NBCSN
's college football coverage as the host of the newly created
College Football Talk
, a weekly wrap up show. Additionally, he served each week as the host for the network's studio show before and after game coverage.
2012 saw McHugh return to NBC and NBCSN’s coverage of the NHL as lead studio host.
[4]
He hosted
NHL Live
several times weekly and the
NHL on NBC
intermission report weekly. He finished off the 2011-2012 NHL season in his biggest role to date, hosting every game of the
2012 Stanley Cup Finals
. He served as a reporter for NBC's
Super Bowl XLVI
pre-game coverage. McHugh expanded his portfolio even farther as he was to be a part of
NBC Sports
's coverage of the
2012 Summer Olympics
.
McHugh hosted the afternoon action on NBCSN daily throughout the games. In the fall, he continued to host NBC's college football studio show alongside
Doug Flutie
and newcomer
Hines Ward
. In November 2012, McHugh hosted NBCSN’s Carrier Classic Countdown, live from the deck of the USS Bataan, as well as pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage. He made his Winter Olympics debut as a hockey host at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi for NBC.
[
citation needed
]
For the final 6 weeks of the 2015-2016
Premier League
season, McHugh filled in as the lead studio host for the Monday afternoon
Premier League
games while
Rebecca Lowe
was on maternity leave. He continued in that capacity for the next five
Premier League
seasons when he has no NHL responsibilities for
NBCSN
.
During the
2017 NFL season
, McHugh was named the new studio host for NBC’s joint coverage of
Thursday Night Football
with
NFL Network
. He replaced
Bob Costas
, who stepped down from most of his on-air roles at NBC, including the Olympics.
Shortly before
Super Bowl LII
, it was announced that McHugh would join
Dan Patrick
as a studio co-host for the game, filling in for
Mike Tirico
as the latter prepared to anchor the
2018 Winter Olympics
, set to open a few days later.
[5]
McHugh later joined
Football Night in America
full-time starting with the
2018 NFL season
, taking Tirico’s spot, as Tirico moved to the studio to replace the departed Patrick.
Following NBC’s last
Stanley Cup Finals
, their coverage of the
2020 Summer Olympics
,
[2]
and after being left off the Football Night in America roster for the
2021 NFL season
, McHugh departed NBC to join
Turner Sports
for their
NHL coverage
. McHugh joined
Kenny Albert
,
Brendan Burke
,
Eddie Olczyk
,
Keith Jones
,
Anson Carter
, and
John Forslund
, who all jumped from NBC to Turner after the former lost the NHL rights to the latter.
[6]
In 2023, McHugh was named to
Apple TV
’s
MLS Season Pass
broadcast team, as the lead host of their whiparound studio coverage. Despite the new job, McHugh will continue as TNT’s NHL studio host.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Shuster, Rachel (March 4, 2014). "The Next Generation".
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
. p. 6B.
Liam McHugh, 37: Was the hockey host for NBC at the Sochi Olympics.
- ^
a
b
Enslin, Rob (July 20, 2021).
"Orange Voices of the Summer Olympics"
.
Syracuse University
. Retrieved
December 22,
2021
.
- ^
"Liam McHugh"
.
NBC Sports
.
- ^
Bucholtz, Andrew (October 6, 2021).
"NHL on TNT host Liam McHugh said he "self-edited" at NBC: "Maybe the conversation could have drifted a little further."
"
.
Awful Announcing
.
- ^
"Bob Costas won't work Super Bowl for NBC, even though he's also not working the Olympics"
.
Awful Announcing
. January 22, 2018
. Retrieved
January 23,
2018
.
- ^
"Turner Sports Bolsters NHL Game and Studio Commentator Team | Pressroom"
.
pressroom.warnermedia.com
. Retrieved
September 14,
2021
.
External links
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