Horse racing While working at WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, Hammond's tenure at NBC began in 1984, when he was named as a co-host of the inaugural
Breeders' Cup alongside
Dick Enberg. It was supposed to be a one-shot deal for Hammond, but network execs were so impressed, he ended up getting a long-term contract. He was the main host of the network's
thoroughbred racing coverage until
Mike Tirico took over in 2017.
Football Hammond's duties at NBC expanded to covering many other sports. He was the network's play-by-play voice for its coverage of Notre Dame football alongside analysts
Pat Haden or
Mike Mayock from 2000 to 2012. He was also the lead play-by-play man for
The AFL on NBC. From the 1985 NFL season until NBC lost the
NFL on NBC after 1997 season, Hammond had a regular slot working regional Sunday games. Hammond was considered the leading play-by-play candidate when NBC won the bidding for
Sunday night NFL coverage beginning with the 2006 season, but ended up losing out to former
ABC announcer
Al Michaels after the latter signed with NBC. Hammond teamed with
Cris Collinsworth to call the secondary Saturday Wild Card playoff game for NBC each year, including
Chiefs-Colts in January 2007,
Redskins-Seahawks in 2008, and
Falcons-Cardinals in 2009, but teamed with
Joe Gibbs and
Joe Theismann for the
Jets-Bengals Wild Card playoff game in January 2010. His final wild card game was Bengals-Texans on January 7, 2012. Hammond and Collinsworth also serve as the announcing team on the
Madden NFL 09 video game in 2008 and 2009,
Madden NFL 10.
Olympics Hammond also has been very much involved in NBC's
Olympic Games coverage. At the
Summer Olympics, Hammond served as the chief commentator for
track and field, a position for which he debuted at the
1992 Summer Olympics in
Barcelona, where his broadcast partner that year was
O. J. Simpson. Hammond has since said that, prior to the
O. J. Simpson murder case, he and Simpson were great friends and got along well. Hammond also commentates on other track and field events shown on NBC. Hammond continued as the lead track and field commentator for the NBC through the
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. At the
Winter Olympics, Hammond was the main commentator for
figure skating and
ice dancing from the
2002 Winter Olympics through the
2014 Winter Olympics. For the
2018 Winter Olympics, Hammond moved to cover Speed Skating in what would be his final Olympic games.
Basketball Hammond was a play by play announcer for the
NBA on NBC for its entire run from 1990 through 2002. In the final years of NBA coverage he often worked a memorable three man booth with
Steve "Snapper" Jones and
Bill Walton. ==Regional sports==