NFL Network Boots Analyst Michael Irvin From Super Bowl Coverage After Hotel Incident

Something happened when NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin was checking into his hotel to begin coverage of Super Bowl LVII. As a result, the NFL Network is checking him out of its plans to cover the event.

A woman made an unspecified complaint against Irvin as the catalyst for his abrupt dismissal. The incident between the two happened as he was checking in to an Arizona hotel. What was said in the exchange or the nature of the complaint has not been revealed.

The NFL Network issued a terse statement.

“Michael Irvin will not be part of the NFL Network’s Super Bowl 2023 week coverage,” NFL Network spokesman Alex Reithmiller said in a statement, but did not elaborate.

Irvin gave an interview with “Shan & RJ” on 105.3 to explain his side of the story.

“Sunday night … when I came into the hotel, they asked what I did and I said, ‘I just went straight to the room,’ ” Irvin said. “But I guess I had met somebody in the lobby. Talked to somebody in the lobby for about a minute and then I went to my room. And then after I got up there, they said they had to move me in the hotel. I said, ‘Move me in the hotel for what?’ 

“So they moved my hotel, and I said, ‘What’s going on, guys? What’s happening? Why are we moving hotels?’ 

“They said, ‘Well, last night you walked in, you talked to somebody.’ I said, ‘I didn’t talk to anybody. I went straight to the room.’ And then they showed it on camera that I did talk to somebody. I talked to this girl for about a minute. I don’t know what — they didn’t show it to me. They told it to me. I didn’t see it. But that’s why they moved me, because I guess the girl said I said something to her within that minute that we talked, and so they moved me.” 

“That’s why I’m kind of hiding to wait and see how everything comes down,” Irvin added. “It was a minute meeting somewhere in the lobby. I don’t even remember it really because I had a few drinks, to tell you the truth.” 

Irvin told the Dallas Morning News that there was no physical interaction with the woman beyond a handshake. 

In 1996, Irvin was arrested in a hotel room that included topless dancers and cocaine. He pleaded no contest to cocaine possession charges and was suspended for the first five games of the 1996 season. He was also arrested for felony cocaine possession in 2001; the charges were later dropped

In 2007, Irvin was accused of sexual assault stemming from an incident at a casino in Florida. He did not face criminal charges in the incident. He faced a civil suit, filed a counterclaim and the matter was ultimately settled out of court.