“To be a long-termer in an increasingly short-term business, to write this column for 27 years and to be a sportswriter for 44, well, that’s something I’ll always be grateful for. Truly, I’ve loved it all.” – King on his career as a sportswriter
“I think FMIA and The Peter King Podcast could not exist without the support of so many, and I must thank those vital people.” – King on those who made FMIA happen
“Some of you have stayed with me since I started this in 1997…We all like to feel like we’re read, and your reactions, good and bad, 250 or so every week over the past few years, have really added a lot to my life in the business.” – King on his audience
STAMFORD, Conn. – Feb. 26, 2024 – Peter King announces his retirement and recalls his fondest memories covering the NFL in his final edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also discusses his favorite game, people, interviews and more from his 27 years writing his Monday morning column. Peter King joined NBC Sports exclusively in 2018, writing his FMIA column, presenting The Peter King Podcast, making weekly appearances on PFT Live and contributing to Football Night in America.
For more NFL coverage, Peacock offers daily programming on the NBC Sports channel for free, including Pro Football Talk at 7 a.m. ET, The Dan Patrick Show at 9 a.m. ET, Brother from Another at 3 p.m. ET, plus Chris Simms Unbuttoned on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and the weekly The Peter King Podcast. To learn more about the NBC Sports on Peacock channel and how to sign up, click here.
The NFL on NBC YouTube channel offers daily football content for free, with exclusive videos from Peter King, Mike Florio, Chris Simms, and more. To access all these videos and more, click here to subscribe.
The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
RETIREMENT
King on his career as a sportswriter: “Who’s complaining? Not me. I’m the luckiest man on the face of the earth. To be a long-termer in an increasingly short-term business, to write this column for 27 years and to be a sportswriter for 44, well, that’s something I’ll always be grateful for. Truly, I’ve loved it all.”
King’s response to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid asking if he’d retire last year: “I didn’t know what to say, because I’d been thinking about it. But I still liked doing the work so much that I decided to come back for the year, pretty sure it would be my last.”
King on what his family has meant to him throughout his career: “The sacrifices my wife, Ann, and my kids, Laura and Mary Beth, and their families have made for me to do this job at the highest level have been significant.”
King on the joy he found in his career: “There are things about this job I’ll never find in another gig, no matter how much fun any future job is. Breaking the four-game Lawrence Taylor drug suspension in 1988. Brett Favre spilling the secret to me of going into rehab, and why, in 1996.”
King on the importance of his audience throughout the years: “We all like to feel like we’re read, and your reactions, good and bad, 250 or so every week over the past few years, have really added a lot to my life in the business.”
FAVORITES
Moment: Steve Young’s hotel suite, Post-Super Bowl XXIX
King on 49ers quarterback Steve Young celebrating in bed with IVs in both arms: “This was one of the strangest post-game celebrations in Super Bowl history. (Steve) Young had maybe 40 family members and friends in the room and spilling out into the hotel hallway, and even the wooziness wasn’t affecting his glee.”
Interviews:
King on his interview with former Packers quarterback Brett Favre after winning Super Bowl XXXI: “I went to the team party at the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans, espied (Brett) Favre with a ton of people around him, waved my arms, got his attention, and pointed to a stairwell near him, and we met in there for 20 minutes or so. We sat on a luggage cart.”
King on former New York Giant DE George Martin: “In 2007, disgusted by the lax federal support of sick 9/11 first-responders, (George) Martin decided to walk from the George Washington Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge, 3,000 miles, to raise money for the cause. I met him in western Tennessee, outside of Memphis, to walk 18 miles with him, including mile 1,000.”
Game: Jan. 3, 1993: Buffalo 41, Houston 38
King on the Bills coming back from a 32-point deficit to win: “(Frank) Reich went out and threw four TD passes in the second half and the Bills won in overtime. Reich played/sat for 13 NFL seasons, starting 42 games. He had one four-TD game. This was it. Pretty crazy to think that those four touchdowns came in a playoff game, in 23 minutes.”
MR. NICE GUYS
King on QB Tom Brady: “I’ll always appreciate when he entered the sphere of international megastar and still made time for me, long past the time when I could really do anything for him.”
King on QB Phil Simms: “Other than (Peyton) Manning, I’ve never met a player as intensely interested in talking football at any time of the day or night. Great guy to cover for my four years on the Giants’ beat in the eighties.”
King on QB Charlie Batch: “His work with the needy in hardscrabble areas of Pittsburgh is inspirational. Should write a book on how players, even non-superstar players, can make a huge difference in their hometowns.”
King on LB Harry Carson: “One of the best leaders I’ve seen in sports, and one of the kindest. Amazing to read in Gary Myers’ book “Once a Giant:” Carson today still considers himself the captain of the players on the Giants in the eighties. When they need him, he’s there.”
King on OT Anthony Munoz: “What always amazed me about (Anthony) Munoz, in the one season I covered him (1984) and every time I’d see him after a game after that, is how calm and thoughtful he could be 15 minutes after doing battle with the best pass-rushers in football.”
THANK YOU
King on his daughters: “It takes a special family to make this wonderful life possible. My daughters Laura and Mary Beth grew up mostly without a weekend dad for five to six months a year; maybe they liked the freedom, I don’t know. But they never complained.”
King on those who made FMIA happen: “I think FMIA and The Peter King Podcast could not exist without the support of so many, and I must thank those vital people.”
King on what he’ll miss the most: “The training camp tour. Best month of the work year. Forty-five minutes in Andy Reid’s cinderblock dorm room, real time with quarterbacks and other key guys, watching practice to see things like Josh Allen sprint downfield to chase an interceptor—you learn a lot in that month.”
Read the full FMIA column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.
The following are additional highlights of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage:
- PFT Live with NBC Sports’ Mike Florio (Mondays) and Florio and Chris Simms (Tuesday-Thursday) streams on Peacock from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET on weekdays & is available on-demand. The Dan Patrick Show streams at 9 a.m. ET, Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry at Noon ET, Brother From Another at 3 p.m. ET, PFT PM at 5 p.m. ET. At 6 p.m. ET, Chris Simms Unbuttoned streams Tuesday-Friday.
- com continues to provide the latest news and updates.
- NBC Sports EDGE’s Rotoworld Football Show continues the NFL discussion and Bet The Edge Podcast provides daily betting insights.
- The NFL on NBC YouTube channel offers daily football content for free, with exclusive videos from Peter King – including his interviews with players and coaches at training camps – Mike Florio, Chris Simms, and more. To access all of these videos and more, click here to subscribe.
A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May 2019 that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.