ESPN’s most ubiquitous college football analyst is headed to Amazon in a limited capacity. According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Kirk Herbstreit will spend one night a week calling NFL games as Amazon takes over as the exclusive broadcaster for Thursday Night Football beginning with the 2022 season.
Amazon’s interest in bringing Herbstreit on board has been around ever since it was reported that Troy Aikman, who was viewed as the longtime favorite to take the job, would head to ESPN and become the lead analyst on Monday Night Football. A number of other names, including Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, were linked to the position before Herbstreit emerged as a potential partner for Al Michaels in the booth — Marchand did, however, report that Michaels has yet to sign a contract with Amazon and could be a potential option for Fox with Joe Buck moving to ESPN.
As for Herbstreit, this new gig does not mean he’s leaving his longtime employer. Despite the fact that his Thursday nights are now busy, Herbstreit will reportedly continue his college football obligations with the Worldwide Leader. Marchand reports that he is still expected to appear on College GameDay every Saturday morning before hopping into the booth for ESPN’s marquee college football broadcasts on a given weekend.
This will not be the first time that Herbstreit will call games in the pros, as he has worked alongside his usual CFB partner, Chris Fowler, on occasional Monday Night Football broadcasts in recent years.
