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'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

with

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

. Florio is a contributor to

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's Sunday night NFL studio show ''

Football Night in America ''Football Night in America'' (''FNIA''), branded for sponsorship purposes as ''Football Night in America served by Applebee's'', is an American pre-game show that is broadcast on NBC, preceding its broadcasts of Sunday night and postseason Natio ...

'' 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 Jason Calvin Garrett (born March 28, 1966) is a former American football player and coach and current broadcaster. He previously served as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for the 2010s from 2010-2019. Garrett has also been offensive coordi ...

Tony Dungy Anthony Kevin Dungy ( ; born October 6, 1955) is an American former football safety and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts. Dungy's teams be ...

, and Maria Taylor. 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 Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

. He attended

Wheeling Central Catholic High School Central Catholic High School is a parochial, Roman Catholic high school in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Central Catholic High School has been educating young men and women since 1865 ...

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 Coll ...

'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 majo ...

. 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 ...

, 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, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and so ...

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 Bridgeport is a city in eastern Harrison County, West Virginia, Harrison County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,325 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Clarksburg micropolitan area. The town of Bridgeport had its beginning i ...

. 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 expansi ...

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