Al Michaels is pretty happy with the Thursday Night Football schedule this year.<\/p>\n
The legendary announcer has been the voice of TNF since Amazon\u2019s Prime Video took over the weekly staple, and he\u2019s been very upfront about the quality of the games he\u2019s gotten to call in that time.<\/p>\n
The 81-year-old, who infamously used to compare some of the games on Prime\u2019s TNF slate to selling a used car\u00a0(he\u00a0even cited a \u201c20-year-old Mazda\u201d<\/a> once), once said that Amazon\u2019s game schedule \u201cwas a little leaky<\/a>,\u201d and that he\u2019d had to call a \u201cfarcical<\/a>\u201d game or two.\u00a0However, the NFL started doing Prime some solids the last few seasons, and Michaels has been quick to applaud<\/a> the quality of games on his calendar. Even at his age, the broadcaster sussed out that the league was well aware of the quickly growing value of streaming service audiences<\/a>.<\/p>\n The NFL released its 2026 schedule this past week<\/a>, and the TNF slate is once again very strong, featuring Lions-Bills, Seahawks-Broncos, Patriots-Bears, and Chiefs-Rams, as well as several divisional matchups.<\/p>\n Michaels expressed his appreciation for the quality of the games during an appearance on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n NEW PODCAST: The guest is Al Michaels.<\/p>\n He talks about @NFLonPrime<\/a>\u2018s schedule \u2014 including opening up the @BuffaloBills<\/a> new stadium, his future calling games and hanging out with Pete Rose and Johnny Bench at @CanadiensMTL<\/a> games.<\/p>\n TO LISTEN: https:\/\/t.co\/ldSOoKDIvD<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) May 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cThe league\u2019s been very, very good to us as the years have progressed here,\u201d Michaels told Deitsch. \u201cI mean, the first year, getting started, the games weren\u2019t particularly compelling. But the schedule now has gotten better and better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael then shared that not only does it feel like the league is giving Prime Video more consistent matchups, but it also sees them as a critical media partner, sharing an example from last year\u2019s Wild Card Round as proof.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a seminal moment last year in terms of how the league felt about Prime, when there were six Wild Card games at the end of the season, and they didn\u2019t apportion them until the final whistle on Sunday,\u201d he said. \u201cOur whole group gathered, and we said, you know what, they\u2019ll probably give us the third or fourth best game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew the best game, number one, Green Bay-Chicago, we weren\u2019t going to get it. San Francisco-Philadelphia, doubtful. So we would probably wind up with the\u2014 I think Jacksonville played Buffalo, the Rams were playing Carolina. I can\u2019t remember what the other game was, but we were stunned when they gave us Green Bay-Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I kidded [Fox Sports CEO] Eric Shanks about it, too. I said, \u2018You guys were stunned over at Fox.\u2019 He said, \u2018We were.\u2019 I said, \u2018You can\u2019t do every Green Bay-Chicago game, you know.\u2019 And then we did 32 million people in the game, it was phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, at the time, the first-round matchup between the Packers and Bears was expected to\u00a0air on Sunday, either in the Fox 4:30 p.m. slot or on\u00a0Sunday Night Football on NBC. Instead, it went to Prime while Fox got the San Francisco 49ers-Philadelphia Eagles game, and NBC got the Los Angeles Chargers-New England Patriots game.<\/p>\n Jeff Agrest of the\u00a0Chicago Sun-Times reported<\/a> at the time that every NFL playoff broadcasting partner wanted that game, but the NFL \u201cchose to lean into its burgeoning relationship with Prime Video\u2019s owner, Amazon,\u201d and \u201cwants streaming to be a significant part of its media rights.\u201d He added that the NFL also saw putting the game on Prime as a chance to attract a younger audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between that and many of the decisions that went into the revised media rights heading into the 2026 season, it\u2019s pretty clear just how much the NFL is prioritizing its relationships with streaming partners<\/a> like Prime. That\u2019s all good news for Michaels, who always lets you know where he stands on the quality of the games he\u2019s calling.<\/p>\n \t\n