Historically, Thursday Night Football was the place for the NFL to put its dud matchups. That hasn’t been the case throughout most of the Prime Video era.
After a bit of a prove-it year in 2023, Prime Video’s first as the exclusive Thursday Night Football broadcaster, the NFL began scheduling some better games for the streamer. And the strategy has paid off. Last year, Thursday Night Football had the most-watched season in its 20-year history, averaging 15.33 million viewers per game. No doubt, the stronger schedule was part of the reason.
The package’s lead voice, longtime play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, seems to agree. And during an appearance on CNBC’s Halftime Report on Wednesday, Michaels praised the NFL for awarding Prime Video another strong schedule this season, at least on paper.
“The league has a tough decision to make because you’ve got all these partners and you’ve got to try to give them some very good games. They’ve given us our share,” Michaels said, per Sports Business Journal. “We’re happy with the way things have evolved and where they’ve come. And I think the league has shown us they’re pretty happy with the way Amazon’s been telecasting and producing these games by the type of schedules we’ve been given over the last couple of years.”
Prime Video will kick off its season this week with a Detroit Lions-Buffalo Bills game that will christen the new Highmark Stadium. Later in the year, Thursday Night Football will feature marquee games like Patriots-Bears, Chiefs-Rams, and 49ers-Chargers.
While it’s fair to say that the NFL’s Thursday schedule still isn’t at the same level as Sunday night or Monday night, the league has clearly taken measures to improve the window. After all, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to schedule meaningless games in the timeslot when they could otherwise be buried in Sunday afternoon regional windows. Thursday Night Football is one of three standalone games each week; it’s wise for the NFL to schedule those games appropriately.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.