Amazon teams Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit for ‘Thursday Night Football’

Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will be the new voices of “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon, the company announced Wednesday.

The duo’s move to the e-commerce and streaming service giant, which obtained exclusive rights for Thursday night games in the latest league media deal beginning in 2022, had been in the works for some time.

Herbstreit, ESPN’s top college football analyst, will serve as the color commentator on the broadcast while remaining in his current role, which includes “College GameDay.” ESPN and Herbstreit announced a multi-year extension Wednesday.

Mike Tirico is expected to take over “Sunday Night Football” play-by-play duties alongside Cris Collinsworth on NBC. Tirico had already filled in for Michaels in a handful of games over the past few seasons.

Michaels called the NFL in spurts until 1986, when he became the play-by-play announcer for ABC’s Monday Night Football, a position he held for 20 years. In 2006, he and John Madden moved over to NBC for “Sunday Night Football.” He’s called 11 Super Bowls on television, a record he shares with Pat Summerall.

Fred Gaudelli, the longtime “Sunday Night Football” producer, will join Amazon as the executive producer of “Thursday Night Football” as part of a collaboration with NBC Sports.

While the Michaels-Collinsworth tandem didn’t survive NFL media’s own wild offseason, the Joe Buck-Troy Aikman pairing remained intact going from Fox to ESPN for Monday Night Football. Michaels’ contract is in the same range as the $60 million-$75 million deal (over five years) Buck signed with ESPN, and Herbstreit’s contract is on par with that of Aikman ($18 million per year), according to the New York Post.

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