Amazon is reportedly seeking Al Michaels for its Thursday Night Football coverage. Plus: NBC has announced a slew of new play-by-play voices for its planned Olympics coverage; ESPN has promoted one of its top execs; the return of the USFL.
Amazon after Michaels for “Thursday Night” role
Amazon is pursuing lead NBC Sunday Night Football play-by-play voice Al Michaels for the same role on its exclusive Thursday Night Football broadcasts, which are set to begin next year, the New York Post reported Thursday. NBC is said to be an “active part” of discussions that could involve other members of the SNF production team.
NBC and Amazon could end up sharing Michaels and other members of the production team, with Michaels continuing to call select events for NBC — including one of the network’s Wild Card games and potentially some non-NFL assignments.
NBC is widely expected to move on from Michaels after the coming Super Bowl and install Mike Tirico in his place. Michaels previously called Thursday night games for NBC in 2017.
Per the Post, Amazon is also interested in lead FOX NFL voice Joe Buck and CBS #2 Ian Eagle. [NYP 6.3]
ESPN’s Benetti among many new play-by-play voices on NBC Olympics coverage
NBC Sports on Thursday announced a slew of new play-by-play talent for its coverage of the scheduled Tokyo Summer Olympics, including ESPN’s Jason Benetti, Beth Mowins and Courtney Lyle as the voices of baseball, softball and field hockey, respectively, ESPN’s Derek Rae and multi-network voices Jenn Hildreth and Lisa Byington on soccer, Turner’s Matt Winer on handball, Bay Area radio host Kate Scott on basketball, and Clippers radio voice Noah Eagle on 3-on-3 basketball.
Thursday’s NBC release only covered new Olympic talent, rather than returning voices. [NBC Sports PR 6.3]
ESPN promotes Magnus to new role
ESPN on Thursday named Burke Magnus its president of programming and original content, a new position at the company that will put the 26-year ESPN employee in charge of the company’s relationships with its rights partners, its content strategy, and its global rights negotiations and scheduling. [ESPN PR 6.3]
Fox and TSL CEO announce USFL relaunch
Fox Sports and The Spring League CEO Brian Woods announced Thursday the planned relaunch of the long-defunct USFL football league. The new USFL would launch in the spring of next year and consist of at least eight teams. The original version launched in 1983 and disbanded in 1986 in large part due to some bad advice from one of the owners.
The new USFL would relaunch in the same year as the third iteration of the XFL. [Fox Sports PR 6.3]
