Al Michaels will be returning to call the 2026-27 NFL season for Prime Video, according to a report by Richard Deitsch of The Sports Business Journal. Saturday night’s NFL Wild Card matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears will mark the 31st time Michaels has called a game at Soldier Field, a run that stretches back nearly four decades to his first appearance there in 1986.
According to Deitsch, Prime Video executives confirmed that the 81-year-old broadcaster will return for the 2026 NFL season. Michaels has served as the lead play-by-play voice for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football package since 2022, continuing a career that has made him one of the most recognizable and trusted figures in sports broadcasting.
“First of all, I feel great,” Michaels said. “Everyone at Amazon has been fantastic, and I love working with this group. I’ve been taking this one year at a time. As long as I feel I’m at the top of my game, I’d like to keep going.”
Prime Video landed one of the most compelling games of the opening playoff weekend. The Saturday night contest between Chicago and Green Bay represents a significant showcase for Amazon’s growing NFL presence. For Michaels, the assignment came as a welcome surprise.
“I feel fortunate,” Michaels said, noting that playoff games remain special regardless of how many he has called. After 40 seasons as a prime-time NFL voice, those opportunities are no longer taken for granted.
Earlier this week, Michaels told Mad Dog Sports Radio that he will know when it’s time for him to officially end his broadcasting career.
“I’ll go as long as I can or I want to,” Michaels told Chris “Mad Dog Russo. “But I have to be able to know that I can do the game at the level that satisfies me.”
Michaels, 81, joined Amazon Prime’s NFL coverage after a storied run calling games for several networks. His move to streaming reflected both his enduring presence in the broadcast world and the growing competition among platforms to attract high-profile sports talent.
Now in his fourth season calling games for Amazon Prime Video, Michaels made it clear this week he does not currently feel close to stepping away. He said the decision to continue will ultimately come down to self-awareness and performance, rather than outside opinions or milestones.
“If I feel not as what I have been or the way I perceive myself to have been, that’ll be time to step away,” Michaels said. “I don’t feel that right now, though.”
Once the current NFL season concludes, Michaels’ schedule will shift from football to reflection. Deitsch reports that he plans to travel to Lake Placid, New York, for an event honoring the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, whose gold-medal run remains one of the most celebrated stories in sports history. Michaels was behind the microphone for the “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union, a call that continues to define his legacy.
For Michaels, the present remains rooted in football, but the past and future are never far away — a fitting balance for a broadcaster whose career has spanned generations.
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