Barber To Join ‘Today' Show
Former Giants running back Tiki Barber may have retired from the NFL, but his working days are a long way from over. The 31-year-old Barber, the Giants' all-time leading rusher with 10,449 yards, will join NBC's "The Today Show" after spending most of the 2006 NFL season entertaining bids from various networks for jobs in both news and sports.
Mr. Barber, who holds a degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Virginia, is expected to be introduced today at a network news conference. He will work both on the "Today" show and on the network's Sunday night football show. It is unlikely he would be in the broadcast booth with the longtime team of Al Michaels and John Madden.
Mr. Barber, who worked in the offseason at Fox, had considered offers from that network and ESPN/ABC for news-sports roles. He has long said that his professional goal after football is to become a well-known television personality, though he has scoffed at the prospect of becoming a football commentator, preferring instead to anchor a morning show or a straight news broadcast. He is expected to begin work at NBC in April. Exact terms of his multiyear, multimillion dollar contract are unknown.
Mr. Barber, who shocked the Giants and their fans when he announced early in the 2006 season that it would be his final year as a player, rushed and received the ball 2,803 times in his 10-year NFL career, all with the Giants, and his 15,631 yards from scrimmage rank 10th in league history.
