Don’t pencil in Al Michaels for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football play-by-play opening quite yet.
The wide belief throughout the sports TV industry is that Michaels will indeed go to Amazon after his contract with NBC expires following Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13. But according to the New York Post‘s Andrew Marchand, ESPN is considering taking a run at the legendary broadcaster for its Monday Night Football broadcast.
Amazon and Michaels haven’t apparently reached an agreement yet. Though there are some who wonder if that might get finalized in the next couple of weeks so Michaels can give a proper goodbye at the close of the Super Bowl telecast.
But Amazon hasn’t settled on a potential broadcast partner for Michaels yet, and that choice could influence whether or not this becomes a done deal. Troy Aikman appears to be the favorite for the analyst spot and he’ll reportedly have to decide whether or not to call a game for Amazon and Fox each week or move over exclusively to Amazon.
Or, as Marchand speculates, perhaps he and Michaels will decide to go to ESPN if that becomes an option.
Does this mean that ESPN wants to blow up its current MNF team of Steve Levy, Brian Griese, and Louis Riddick? Marchand has reported that Griese’s contract is up, so the network is surely evaluating whether or not to bring the three-man crew back.
In the process, ESPN also apparently wants to see if there’s any interest from Michaels, though Marchand says no conversations have occurred.
Other options for a Michaels partner, whether it’s with Amazon or ESPN, could be Sean Payton (who is reportedly stepping down as New Orleans Saints coach), Pete Carroll, or Sean McVay. Carroll is still the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach, while McVay is coaching the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s NFC Championship game amid a possible Super Bowl run.
(Marchand contradicts reports that Fox would consider Payton as a replacement for Aikman on the network’s No. 1 NFL broadcast team with Joe Buck, reporting that the network is more interested in him as a studio analyst.)
It’s also entirely possible that Michaels’ representatives are floating this ESPN possibility to create some urgency with Amazon and get the best deal possible. Michaels returning to MNF, where he was the play-by-play voice for 20 years with ABC and ESPN, would be the sort of headline-grabbing move that ESPN has long sought for its showcase NFL telecast.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
