Thursday Night Football moves to Amazon in the upcoming season and Peter King expects some big changes to come with it. He wrote this week in his “Football Morning in America” column that he expects the NFL to prioritize making its new media partner happy.
As usual, the 2022 NFL season will open on a Thursday night. Instead of Amazon, the first game will be on NBC. King writes that he thinks that means that the first two nights of Thursday Night Football will be blockbusters.
The season opener traditionally goes to the defending Super Bowl champ. Last year’s season-opener between the Cowboys and Buccaneers is also a motivator for the NFL to get the first game right. The Los Angeles Rams are locked in. Peter King suggests that Denver, San Francisco and Buffalo are all prime candidates to be the opponent.
Peter King says that Amazon will prioritize star power for its first Thursday night game.
“I’ve heard they want Kansas City and the Patrick Mahomes star power. Smart choice, if they can get it,” he writes.
He suggests that there is enough intrigue within the AFC West that if the Chiefs get the spot, it will likely be a divisional game, with the Chargers or Broncos being the most likely opponent.
The NFL isn’t just trying to satisfy a new media partner. Peter King writes that the league wants one of the world’s richest men, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, to sing the praises of the league as a business partner.
“Traditionally, the Week 2 Thursday-nighter has been a repository of mediocrity. This year, just watch: it will be an homage to Bezos.”
