Do you believe in Amazon? Yes. (I know, but sometimes the low-hanging fruit is the tastiest.)
Al Michaels does. The legendary broadcaster has agreed to become the play-by-play announcer for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, reports Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. An official announcement is pending.
Marchand reports that Michaels will be paid roughly the same as Joe Buck will receive from ESPN. Buck reportedly has signed a five-year, $75 million contract.
Michaels will partner with Kirk Herbstreit, who will pull double duty for now between NFL for Amazon and college football for ESPN.
Michaels joined NBC in 2006, when the network acquired the Sunday Night Football package. He will continue to work some NBC games, including one of the NBC playoff games.
Amazon and the NFL are banking on live NFL football further accelerating the adjustment of viewing habits from traditional TV to streaming. Although the Amazon games will have a smaller audience than the games generated on FOX in recent years (and, before that, on NBC and CBS), forcing people to use Amazon Prime to watch NFL games will, in theory, get people to sample Amazon Prime’s video offerings more often.