Kirk Herbstreit Explains Why He Wanted to Cover NFL Games

Amazon’s new Thursday Night Football package debuts this fall, and the coverage will be led by legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and longtime college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit.

Herbstreit, who is calling NFL games on a full-time basis for the first time in his career, will continue with his college football duties for ESPN. Herbstreit has called a handful of NFL games for ESPN in the past, but this is the first time in his career that he will call pro games on a regular basis.

Herbstreit shared why he wanted to call NFL games in an interview with NBC’s Peter King.

“I’m a college football junkie,” Herbstreit said. “Growing up in Ohio, my dad played at Ohio State. He coached with Woody [Hayes] and Bo [Schembechler]. It was kind of in my blood. I’ve always been an NFL fan but I’m very, very passionate about the college game. I’ve always looked at the NFL game as ‘I’m a fan of it.’ Never really was that guy that I have to keep climbing in my career, I have to get to the NFL. I was just never that guy.” 

So what intrigued him to make the move?

“Then ESPN asked me to do a couple games over the last couple years. I was kinda blown away by how much I enjoyed it,” Herbstreit said. “I really enjoyed working with the players, and the coaches. I was kind of taken aback by how receptive they were towards me personally. How forthcoming they were in my production meetings.”

“Really, that’s the part about my job I love the most. It just put me in a very comfortable position as I was doing the broadcast because of being around Ben Roethlisberger and being around the Steelers and the Giants and last year the Chiefs and the Broncos. Feeling the juice of a broadcast. There’s nothing really like that. It just had me thinking, maybe one day that’s maybe something I’ll do. When Amazon approached me about the idea, I was very intrigued.”

Amazon’s exclusive coverage of Thursday Night Football begins on September 15, when the Chargers travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Chiefs.