After 29 years, Peter King is moving on from Sports Illustrated. The senior writer, founder of the popular NFL website The MMQB, and one of the most respected voices in football has accepted an opportunity with NBC Sports, bringing his nearly three decade run with SI to an end.
“When Sports Illustrated was good enough to allow me to start The MMQB five years ago, I wanted to introduce a group of promising young journalists to the SI audience and give them a chance to develop into prominent voices on the pro football scene,” said King. “We’re fortunate now that Jenny Vrentas, Robert Klemko, Andy Benoit, Albert Breer, Conor Orr, Jonathan Jones, Tim Rohan, Jacob Feldman and Kalyn Kahler—average age: 30—have grown into an excellent team, with a group of superb editors. It’s time for them to have the opportunities I’ve had over the years, and to do some of the stories and projects I’ve done that they’re more than ready to do.”
King will begin his new venture with NBC this July. As part of his new opportunity he’ll write a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; appear regularly on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continue contributing to Football Night in America. He’ll also resume his popular NFL training camp tour, filing his column from the road and offering occasional video or written reports from team to team throughout the preseason.
“I’m thrilled to be joining NBC Sports full-time after working with the football crew there since 2006. I’ve loved my time there, both in the studio and doing longer features for Football Night in America, and the chance to bring my column there felt like a perfect match to me,” King added. “I loved my time at Sports Illustrated. Quite frankly, it was very tough for me to leave. But the only place that felt like a great fit after my years at SI was NBC, which has always made me feel like a member of the family.”
“Peter has been one of the most prolific and respected NFL writers for decades, and we’re thrilled to host his work exclusively on NBC Sports Digital platforms,” said Rick Cordella, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group. “With the addition of Peter and his Monday morning column, we now have the most complete NFL digital portfolio in sports as we stream primetime television’s number one show, Sunday Night Football; provide continuous football news and analysis on Mike Florio’s Pro Football Talk; and produce unparalleled fantasy football information on Rotoworld.com.”
Similar to what ESPN has done with Adam Schefter, NBC will also provide King with an opportunity to expand his horizons. The network says King will be included on the network’s coverage of its most high-profile events, including the Stanley Cup Final, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and more.
“As one of the best NFL reporters in history, Peter’s information, storytelling, and analysis make us better across the board,” added Sam Flood, Executive Producer and President, Production, NBC Sports & NBCSN. “With Peter expanding his NBC Sports presence from Football Night to PFT Live and digital, football fans are the big winners.”
King joined SI in 1989 after working for Newsday. His Monday morning column, which often exceeded 7,000 words, has become appointment viewing for sports fans, especially NFL diehards. He also ventured into the podcast space in recent years. No word yet on if that will continue under NBC’s umbrella.
“Peter, in my opinion, is one of the five most important figures in SI history,” says SI editor-in-chief, Chris Stone, “one, for the following he’s built covering North America’s most popular sport, and two for his willingness to embrace new approaches to journalism and storytelling, most notably with the creation of The MMQB, first as a conversation-setting column in 1997, then as a conversation-setting website in 2013.”
King has flirted with the possibility of leaving SI before, but when push came to shove, chose to stick it out with his longtime employer. However, the Meredith Corporation, which owns SI, has chosen to sell the popular sports brand, leaving the future unclear. Couple that uncertainty with layoffs and a number of high profile defections, and King decided that it was time to roll the dice on a new adventure.
“I just felt it was time to move on from the 24/7-ness of football coverage and try something a little bit different. My 29 years at Sports Illustrated have been, collectively, a dream come true. I’ll always be grateful to Mark Mulvoy for hiring a green 31-year-old kid in 1989, just as I’m grateful to my current boss, Chris Stone, for the opportunities and support he’s given me in recent years. For three decades, I’ve had the job of a lifetime in the sports media business, and I will be forever grateful to SI. I leave at the end of May with immense gratitude to my editors over the years and to my staff at The MMQB since 2013. Thanks, from the bottom of my heart.”
