Last month, Andrew Marchand at The Athletic reported that Kirk Herbstreit was re-signing with Amazon Prime Video to continue as the lead analyst for Thursday Night Football. However, there’s a catch: Amazon could move on from Herbstreit if one of its preferred targets becomes available later.
Marchand made it clear that Prime’s top target was current Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, who may or may not move into broadcasting in the next year or two.
Setting aside the weirdness of the deal, the full terms weren’t known, other than that it would run multiple seasons at more than $10 million annually.
On Monday’s episode of his podcast, Marchand admitted it was a three-year deal, shorter than the five-year contract he initially signed with Prime Video.
“I think it’s a three-year deal; I didn’t write that originally,” said Marchand. “There are outs after Year 1 and 2. So I think Kirk would get his full money if it happened after this year. Before next year started. It’s basically buyouts.”
We were stymied about why Herbstreit would agree to a contract with clauses that made him expendable. It seemed to Drew Lerner to say what many viewers were already thinking: even Amazon could take or leave the Al Michaels-Kirk Herbstreit dynamic.
… For Herbstreit’s star power and notoriety, his partnership with Al Michaels has never truly clicked at Amazon. Part of that is because Michaels is in the twilight of his career. The other part is that the two have never really developed on-air chemistry. And for as accomplished as Herbstreit is as an analyst, he’s never really captured the imagination of NFL fans or resonated the way he has on the college side. Herbstreit and Michaels have ranked 8th in the Awful Announcing NFL broadcaster rankings in each of the last two seasons.
For his part, Marchand thinks it was a good deal negotiated for an announcer who also has several other jobs to fall back on.
“Why would Kirk Herbtreit sign it? Why not? It’s a great deal,” said Marchand. “His agents did a very good job for him.”
Marchand and guest John Ourand also discussed the possibility that Amazon might use that clause to go after Troy Aikman if he leaves ESPN after this season. Marchand doesn’t see it.
“McVay is one thing,” he said. “I don’t think Amazon Prime Video would go after Troy Aikman. I think they want Sean McVay.”
Marchand added that “The Amazon Way” is about long-term thinking, and they likely feel it’s better to wait for the person they want rather than settle for who is available right now.
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