Kirk Herbstreit, a college football analyst with ESPN, is reportedly Amazon’s choice to provide color commentary for “Thursday Night Football” when those games stream exclusively on Prime Video this fall. Peter King of NBC Sports reported the move. The New York Post previously made the connection. Herbstreit will reportedly continue his work with ESPN/ABC, where he’s known for calling college football games. Amazon first took over streaming rights for the NFL’s “TNF” in 2017, and last year signed an 11-year deal in the league’s first all-digital pact with a media partner.
The NFL returns to Amazon Prime Video this week with the “Thursday Night Football” matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. As Amazon gets set to kick off its fifth season of streaming the action, the company shared details about what to expect. This will be the final season of the NFL’s existing “tri-cast” model of broadcasting “TNF.” Next season, Prime Video will be the exclusive home for 15 games on Thursdays, thanks to a deal that Amazon reached with the NFL earlier this year. Prime coverage this season includes 12 games and a Wild Card playoff game… Read More
Amazon may have skipped putting its name on the outside of the renovated stadium where the Seattle Kraken will begin NHL play next month, but the company is bringing its technology to the inside of Climate Pledge Arena. The arena announced Wednesday that four food and beverage stores inside the arena will be equipped with “Just Walk Out” cashierless technology like that used in Amazon Go convenience stores and some Fresh grocery stores. The arena stores will also feature Amazon One palm-scanning tech, which lets customers enter and pay with the wave of a hand. Just Walk Out allows customers… Read More
Amazon is adding a little promotional branding on the helmets of the Seattle Kraken, the city’s new NHL team set to take the ice for its inaugural season next month. The tech giant’s smile logo will be affixed to both sides of midnight blue helmets that the Kraken will wear for home games, the team revealed Tuesday. When the team is away from its home at Climate Pledge Arena, white helmets will feature decals that read “The Climate Pledge,” as a way to draw attention to the effort to get businesses to commit to going net zero carbon by 2040.… Read More
Second-guessing an NFL coach on whether he should have gone for it or kicked on fourth down is one of the great pastimes of watching the sport. Now the league is turning to Amazon Web Services and Next Gen Stats to better inform the armchair quarterbacking by fans and broadcasters. AWS and the NFL announced a new stat called NGS Decision Guide on Wednesday that will be used during the 2021-22 season. Using a series of machine learning models, the equation focuses on win probability — how much the game will change in the hypothetical event of each outcome —… Read More
