One Last Slide: Cris Collinsworth Responds To Al Michaels Leaving NBC

It has been rumored for a few weeks, but officially confirmed yesterday: Al Michaels, the legendary broadcaster, will be leaving NBC and joining Amazon. Michaels will lead Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts with Kirk Herbstreit.

For the past few years, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN had the rights to broadcast Thursday Night Football games, but 2022 will be different. This year, Amazon will have exclusive rights to the Thursday Night games, meaning that football fans will have to watch the games on Amazon if they would like to see them.

Cris Collinsworth and Michaels have been in the broadcast booth together for more than 10 years for NBC, a division of Comcast Corporation CMCSA. Collinsworth took to Twitter to pay homage to Michaels:

See also: NFL's Announcer Carousel: Buck, Aikman Jump From Fox Sports To ESPN, Al Michaels In Talks To Join Amazon

Collinsworth is famous for his “slide in” on broadcasts where he is introduced to the audience by sliding into the frame with Michaels. 

Why It’s Important: Amazon buying rights to NFL games is part of a bigger trend of more content providers trying to get into the sports space. Apple Inc AAPL recently announced a deal with MLB to broadcast baseball games.

Photo: Screenshot from NBC broadcast of Super Bowl LVI via Ken88