Why are Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit calling Thursday Night Football?

The NFL is back with Thursday Night Football, and it’s undergone a pretty significant makeover. The football will be the same, but the viewing options and announcers have seen a dramatic change.

For the past four seasons, TNF was broadcast on FOX with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman handling the call. This year, TNF is airing on Amazon Prime Video with no television option, and Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit are handling the announcer duties.

Amazon purchased the rights to TNF and wanted to make a big splash as they opened their 11-year deal. Michaels and Herbstreit are two of the biggest names in the football broadcasting business, but it’s a unique pairing given Herbstreit’s history with college football. Herbstreit had called an occasional NFL game previously, but this will be his first run as a regular announcer — and boy is it high profile. But hey, for the right amount of money, anything is possible in the announcer business,

Meanwhile, Buck and Aikman have taken over the Monday Night Football announcer duties. It will take a little time getting used to all this primetime change.