The 2023 NFL season kicks off in about three weeks, but Amazon is going to have to wait an additional week before its second season as the rightsholder to Thursday Night Football begins. The hope is that the initial slate of games combined with the ability to flex contests later in the campaign produces much more entertaining and competitive football than what fans were treated to last season.
CBS Sports Radio host Damon Amendolara thinks TNF play-by-play voice Al Michaels had a lot to do with the league scheduling what should be better games this year.
Michaels at some points in 2022 was vocal even on the Amazon broadcast about the quality of the game he was calling. He even jokingly threatened to retire at one point if the games weren’t more competitive. Amendolara did an impression of Michaels on The DA Show on Monday joking that Al had the power to call for better games.
“‘You’re Amazon. Know your place Jeff Bezos!'” Amendolara joked.
“‘You can’t step to me. I’m Al Michaels!'” he said. “So Amazon ain’t gonna say nothing. Robert Kraft, Al Michaels has been calling Super Bowls since before Robert Kraft owned a team in the NFL.”
Michaels is a broadcasting legend in his own right, and so DA thought even if Amazon wanted Al to tone down his criticism of calling bad football games, there wasn’t any way to silence him.
“Nobody can tell Al Michaels anything,” DA said. “So Al Michaels goes on TV and says, ‘This game sucks. Why would you watch this game? This is terrible.'”
