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Charrisa Thompson, seen here on the Fox NFL show, is reportedly finalizing a deal to host the 'Thursday Night Football' pregame show on Amazon Prime Video.
Charissa Thompson | Alliance for Women in Media Foundation/Getty Images for Alliance for Women in Media Foundation)

For the first time in the history of sports media, a streaming service — and not a TV network — will have exclusive rights to a weekly NFL game. In 2022, Amazon Prime Video will be the official home of Thursday Night Football, and the streamer is finalizing its broadcast team. The latest piece of the puzzle is new TNF pregame show host Charissa Thompson who is a surprise selection over two popular former Good Morning Football hosts.

Charissa Thompson is the latest addition to Amazon’s ‘Thursday Night Football’ broadcast team

New York Post sports media insider Andrew Marchand is reporting that Fox Sports’ Charissa Thompson is Amazon’s pick to host the streamer’s Thursday Night Football pregame show. The two sides are reportedly “in the final stages of negotiations” to finalize the deal.

Thompson, who currently hosts Fox NFL Kickoff, which runs from 11:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST before the main Fox NFL Sunday pregame show, will continue her duties with Fox next season as well.

On Amazon, she will team with Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez on the pregame show. Marchand also reports that former NFL stars “Ryan Fitzpatrick, Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch are likely to be involved.”

That crew will lead into the broadcast duo of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit. Marchand writes that Amazon has also “shown interest in ABC’s Kaylee Hartung for the sideline.”

While the news of Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football crew coming together is interesting, the people who didn’t get the jobs might be more intriguing.

Amazon passed on two former ‘Good Morning Football’ hosts and a WWE announcer

A few weeks ago, when the NFL Network’s Kay Adams stepped down from her longtime hosting gig on Good Morning Football, it seemed like it was to make the leap to Amazon for the hosting chair that Charissa Thompson will now sit in.

However, Andrew Marchand also reports that, while Adams and Amazon did negotiate to bring the host in, “the sides failed to come to an agreement.”

Additionally, there apparently was another GMFB alum considered for the job. Marchand tweeted, “Amazon also showed major interest in Nate Burleson at one point to be its host, but Burleson already has 20 jobs, including CBS mornings.”

Finally, the other sports media personality rumored to be in the mix for “a role” on Thursday Night Football is sports talk host and WWE Friday Night Smackdown commentator Pat McAfee. Signing Thompson means Adams and Burleson are out. There could still be room for McAfee even with a full-time host in place, though.

The first Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime Video is the Week 2 matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.

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Tim Crean

Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs.

As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He’s a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early ’90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA.

When he’s not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.