Michaels joins “Thursday Night Football” after spending the last 16 years at NBC, working alongside Cris Collinsworth on the “Sunday Night Football” broadcast.
Herbstreit has been a college football analyst at ESPN since 1996, known for his presence on ESPN’s “College GameDay” and ABC’s “Saturday Night Football.”
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Impressive resumes aside, the NFL had this to say in its press release announcing the hiring of the duo for “Thursday Night Football”: “The hiring of an experienced duo in Michaels and Herbstreit aims to show Prime Video’s commitment to providing the same kind of viewing experience NFL fans have been accustomed to on network television.
“The 2022 season marks the first year in which TNF will be exclusive to Prime Video, which will be the first streaming service to air a season-long licensed national broadcast package from the NFL. The 11-year pact includes 15 regular-season games and one preseason game per season, with Prime Video also delivering new pregame, halftime, and postgame shows as well as interactive features like X-Ray and Next Gen Stats.”
Have Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit worked together before?
Since then, they have done two practice preseason games that never aired to gear up for the season.
In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Michaels detailed his experience working alongside Herbstreit as the two try to build chemistry heading into their debut during Week 2’s matchup between the Chargers and Chiefs.
“What we had done was six days before, in Los Angeles, the Rams played the Texans at SoFi. We did a telecast that went to a veritable tape machine. It didn’t go out over the air anywhere. We wanted to get the crew together, top to bottom, all the cameramen, all the tape operators, all the ancillary people who do every job imaginable on that show, I’d say about 90 to 100 people and how is this going to work? And we started to do the game and right off the bat, I felt very comfortable with Kirk,” Michaels told Sports Illustrated.
Michaels continued on his relationship with Herbstreit, saying the two have clicked without knowing each other previously.
“With Kirk, I didn’t really know him until April. And then we had a couple of days in New York together and a couple of other meals and meetings and phone calls, and I knew his rhythm and he knew mine,” Michaels said to SI.
“I don’t want to say I was shocked by it, but I was very pleasantly surprised and walked away from the booth that night saying, ‘You know, for a preseason game where you’re not talking about any strategy and it’s the Wild West in a way, and we’re going to the sideline reporter, Kaylee Hartung, a lot, it’s not like a regular-season game. But I feel really comfortable going into that Chargers-Chiefs game (Week 2).”
