Michaels, Herbstreit Favored to Call Amazon TNF Games in 2022
- Michaels a Big Favorite to be Play-By-Play Man
- Herbstreit Tops Betting Board as Color Commentator
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Streaming service and online shopping giant Amazon will handle coverage of the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games starting in 2022 after signing a massive 11-year deal worth $1 billion per season. Amazon will broadcast 15 regular-season games each year as part of the deal, and the first in 2022 will be on September 15th.
“We look forward to bringing Thursday Night Football exclusively to Prime members in 2022, a year earlier than previously announced,” said Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video at Amazon, in a statement. “This expedited deal is an immediate differentiator for us as a service, as it gives Prime members exclusive access to the most popular sport in the United States.”
The favorites to call the games as announcers this year are Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit, although you have to pay a much larger price on the former than the latter to get their respective gigs. Michaels is listed at -1000 (bet $1,000 to win $100) to become the play-by-play voice of TNF on Amazon at online sportsbook Bovada, and he has served in the same capacity for NBC’s Sunday Night Football since 2006.
The top competition for Michaels is expected to be Joe Buck at +600 (bet $100 to win $600) and Ian Eagle (+700) according to Bovada. Following Buck and Eagle on the betting board are Hannah Storm (+950), Kay Adams (+1100) and Andrew Catalon (+2000).
Herbstreit or Payton for Color Commentator?
Former Ohio State quarterback Herbstreit has been a mainstay as a color commentator for college football over the past two decades, but he is also the leading candidate to take on the same role for Amazon’s TNF coverage. Herbstreit is listed as the -350 favorite while a couple recently retired NFL employees who worked for the same team are also in the mix.
Sean Payton — the former head coach of the New Orleans Saints — is the +400 second choice to be named the new color man, and his former quarterback Drew Brees is right behind him at +600 along with Michaels’ current SNF sidekick Cris Collinsworth. Payton recently retired from coaching, and Brees called it quits after the 2020 season following a 20-year Hall of Fame career. Longer shots on the board include recently retired future Hall of Famer Tom Brady (+1600), Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay (+2200) and San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch (+2200).
