Al Michaels headed to Amazon for ‘Joe Buck money’

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Legendary NFL play-by-player Al Michaels is in agreement with Amazon Prime Video to lead its booth when it begins its exclusive coverage of Thursday Night Football in the fall, The Post has learned.

Michaels’ partner will be ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit. An official announcement could come as early as this week. 

Amazon declined to comment. 

Michaels is expected to sign the contract shortly after months and months of negotiations. Michaels will be paid near the Joe Buck neighborhood, according to sources.

Buck signed a five-year, $75 million deal with ESPN to join his longtime partner at Fox, Troy Aikman, on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” Michaels’ contract is for three years.

Herbstreit, who has two years remaining on his ESPN deal, will also continue on “College GameDay” and Saturday college games. The terms of Herbstreit’s Amazon contract is not yet fully known, but sources said it is for eight figures a year.

The 77-year-old Michaels was a free agent after he called his record tying 11th Super Bowl on TV for NBC last month. Michaels will still do a game or two for NBC, including its extra NFL playoff game, according to sources. NBC decided to replace Michaels with Mike Tirico as its “Sunday Night Football” play-by-player next season.

Michaels has waited to agree to the contract with Amazon to see if ESPN or Fox would become options. 

ESPN would have tried to team Michaels with Aikman if Fox declined to let Buck out of his contract. After Buck left, Michaels and his representatives reached out to Fox to see if it would want him, according to sources, but Fox, with two of the next three Super Bowls, has been inclined to go with Kevin Burkhardt.

No new deal is yet signed with Burkhardt, but there is a growing expectation that he will be its No. 1 NFL game-caller. His current partner, Greg Olsen, is a leading candidate to be the network’s top analyst. 

Michaels did not do all the games at NBC in recent years, as his backup, Tirico, had in his contract to do a few games per year. Tirico will be teaming with Cris Collinsworth as the now permanent play-by-player for SNF.

Amazon became the exclusive home of “Thursday Night Football” in the NFL’s most recent TV contracts. The 12-year agreement is for more than a billion dollars per year.

Amazon has already brought over NBC’s Sunday Night producer, Fred Gaudelli, to lead its Thursday night telecasts. Gaudelli has produced seven Super Bowls.

In devising its booth, Amazon has strove to have credibility with its audience, which is why it has targeted Michaels since June. The Herbstreit deal came together much later after Amazon pursued Aikman, Sean McVay and John Lynch, among others. Michaels had wanted Aikman or McVay.

When Amazon found out Herbstreit’s ESPN contract allowed him to work the NFL for another entity, it jumped at the chance, thinking he would be the right partner for Michaels. The streaming service will also have yet to be determined alternative feeds.