Kirk Herbstreit updates relationship with new Thursday Night Football partner Al Michaels

Thursday Night Football will look a little bit different during the 2022 season, with a brand new broadcast coming through Amazon. That Amazon broadcast will be led by Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit, which is a pretty strong duo. As the season nears with the schedule now released, Herbstreit is working on building a relationship with Michaels.

Herbstreit didn’t want to get into the season without a personal relationship with Michaels, so he has emphasized that over recent weeks. It can be tough to find chemistry in the booth if you don’t know each other beforehand, which is a big reason Herbstreit has prioritized doing just that during the offseason.

“I’ve hung out with him now two or three times, we did some stuff in LA and then I had to go to New York last week,” said Herbstreit on the Pat McAfee Show. “I had lunch with his wife Linda, my wife Alison, one of my sons, Jake. We just hung out. I had a chance to just get to know him. I’m big on that. I don’t know how you feel, when you go into a new deal, I love like Wednesday night I always wanted to make a staple. Just hang out and get to know him and hopefully he’ll get to know me.

“I feel like when you do that, it really allows you just to have natural chemistry. Have you ever worked with people in TV, have you ever worked with people you just didn’t really know them and you’re kind of feeling your way out on air as opposed to making that effort socially like at a dinner? It’s tough.”

Herbstreit it putting in the work to be prepared to call games alongside Michaels

As Herbstreit and Michaels begin to prepare for their first season in the booth with each other, they are undoubtedly putting in the work. Herbstreit knows that the transition won’t be easy, but he is working hard at preparing himself for his new challenge.

“That’s what I’m going to try to build here in May, June and July, is just kind of build that foundation up now that I know the tams that I’m doing,” said Herbstreit. “I’m just going to work from that Chargers-Chiefs game all the way down and do one a week so I can really dive in and understand and study the coordinators and understand the scheme. They’re a heavy man team, these guys love the quick game, whatever it is. Just try to really understand it so when I get to Week 1 or Week 3 or Week 5, I’ll have a folder or foundation of what I want to get into and then kind of stay up with it as the season goes on.”