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NBC reporter Michele Tafoya's final broadcast on 'Sunday Night Football' will be Super Bowl 56


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Michele Tafoya is a mainstay on the NFL sidelines. She has worked more than 300 games as a sideline reporter, but she has officially announced that this season will be her last. 

NBC Sports announced on Tuesday that Super Bowl 56 on Feb. 13 will mark the last broadcast of Tafoya's prolific career, which includes four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports Personality-Sports Reporter and two Gracie Awards.

"My time with NBC Sports has been the most satisfying of my career," Tafoya, 57, said in a statement released by the network. "There’s no better way to walk away from covering the NFL than with one more Super Bowl!”

Super Bowl 56 – which will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, less than 10 miles from Tafoya's hometown of Manhattan Beach – will mark her fifth Super Bowl and 327th NFL game on the sidelines. 

MORE: Reporter Michele Tafoya leaving 'Sunday Night Football' sidelines after this season

Tafoya hinted at pursuing other opportunities outside of sports reporting. 

"Some may consider me crazy to walk away from one of the more coveted roles in sports television, and I do not doubt that I will miss many aspects of the job," she said.  "But for some time, I have been considering other areas I would like to explore both personally and professionally. I couldn’t ignore that little voice anymore after what we have all endured over the last few years."

Tafoya said in a conference call Tuesday that she would enjoy time with her husband and children and "then the adventure is going to begin." She said it wasn't the time on the call to discuss her next step.

“If I wanted to stay in sports television, I wouldn’t be leaving," she said. "This is about opening another chapter.”

Tafoya, who joined NBC Sports in 2011, said in her statement that she has had the "good fortune of collaborating with a team that is amongst the best at what they do." She added that the "support I’ve received in this position has been unparalleled."

She sent a special thanks to Fred Gaudelli, Drew Esocoff, Al Michaels, and Cris Collinsworth, who she called the "backbone of the 'Sunday Night Football' family."

Collinsworth admitted he was "having such mixed emotions with this announcement." He said: "I am so happy that Michele gets to turn her attention to her passion for changing the world. But I am saddened at the thought of losing such an important member of our family."

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Tafoya's future with NBC's "SNF" was called into question in December after she missed three consecutive games. Although NBC officials called it "bye weeks," her time away came after a controversial appearance on "The View."

On the ABC daytime talk show, Tafoya compared COVID-19 to the flu, saying the flu "kills people."

She said in the Tuesday call about being on that show: “What I took out of that experience was an opportunity to go flex some other muscles. I didn’t get to flex them as much as you would want to just because it was just two days worth of appearances … but it was an opportunity to just try something different and try something where I got to talk about some other stuff. That was enjoyable for me.”

According to the New York Post, NBC has not decided who will replace Tafoya on "SNF," although Kathryn Tappen – who has served as Tafoya's replacement while she has been off – is seen as the leading candidate.

Contributing: Steve Gardner