Amazon apparently believes in miracles. Or at least it has a way to order them with the click of a button.
The streaming revolution will accelerate in 2022, when Amazon assumes responsibility for Thursday Night Football. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that Amazon is “90 percent” likely to hire legendary broadcaster Al Michaels to perform the play-by-play responsibilities for the late-week game.
Marchand points out that it’s “not a done deal,” but that no one to whom he spoke expressed pessimism about the possibility.
Michael is under contract with NBC through Super Bowl LVI. If he moves to the Amazon package (which reportedly will be produced by Fred Gaudelli of NBC), Mike Tirico would become the No. 1 play-by-play voice at NBC. Michaels would still do excess NBC playoff games and “could dabble with some other games.”
The mere effort shows how serious Amazon is about making the weekly streaming-only option a major destination. With Al Michaels handling the play-by-play, it definitely will be.