Michael James Florio (born June 8, 1965) is an American sportswriter, author, radio host, and television commentator. He writes for '' Profootballtalk.com'' which he created and owns. He also hosts the daily NFL talk show ''PFT Live'' on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

with

Chris Simms Christopher David Simms (born August 29, 1980) is an American sports analyst and former American football, football player. He was a quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in t ...

. Florio is a contributor to NBC's Sunday night NFL studio show '' Football Night in America'' and appears in the ''Sunday Night Football'' digital postgame show. The show covers the NFL's top stories of the day and other commentators appear, namely Jason Garrett, Tony Dungy, and

Maria Taylor Maria Taylor may refer to: * Maria Taylor (sportscaster) (born 1987), American sportscaster * Maria Taylor (musician) (born 1976), American musician * Maria Jane Taylor (1837–1870), British missionary to China * Maria Madeline Taylor Maria Made ...

. Additionally he appears with Peter King during halftime of NBC's coverage of Notre Dame football to discuss timely NFL topics. He is the author of ''Playmakers: How the NFL Really Works (And Doesn't)'', a book released in March 2022.

Early life

Florio was born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia. He attended Wheeling Central Catholic High School and graduated in 1983. He graduated from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

with a metallurgical engineering degree and one in "engineering and public policy" and from

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

's law school in 1991.

Sportswriter career

Florio began his sportswriting for a now-defunct site called NFLtalk.com in June 2000. The site was then bought out by

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

, where Florio continued to write a rumor and news report. He worked for

for six months. On November 1, 2001, Florio created the website and blog Profootballtalk.com, which focuses on the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. Florio, 36 at the time, began Profootballtalk.com as a sideline to practicing labor law in

Clarksburg, West Virginia Clarksburg is a city in and the county seat of Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, in the north-central region of the state. The population of the city was 16,039 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Clarksburg micro ...

. On June 14, 2009, it was announced that Profootballtalk.com would become an affiliate of

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

, which would hold exclusive rights to Profootballtalk (PFT) content although Florio would retain ownership in a revenue-sharing deal. After becoming a partner with NBC, Florio began contributing to NBC Sports' television coverage, including ''Football Night in America''. In June 2020, disparaging comments Florio had made about the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

and derogatory comments he made about the disabled community in PFT articles in 2005 and 2006 came to light. These comments included the use of derogatory terms such as "homos", "fruits", "queers" and "fudge packers". Florio issued an apology for these comments on June 26, 2020.

Personal life

Florio is married to Jill Florio; they have a son named Alex. They live in Bridgeport, West Virginia. Florio previously practiced law for 18 years and is a fan of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Florio, Mike 1965 births Living people West Virginia University alumni American sportswriters American television reporters and correspondents Writers from Wheeling, West Virginia People from Bridgeport, West Virginia Carnegie Mellon University alumni