Thursday Night Football

The NFL Network's coverage was not the first time that NFL games were covered on Thursday or Saturday. ABC televised occasional Thursday night games from 1978 to 1986 as part of its Monday Night Football package. Prior to the new contract, ESPN carried a handful of sporadic Thursday night games (usually those displaced from Sunday night) and the broadcast networks used to air several national games on Saturday afternoons in mid-to-late December after the college football regular season ended. Incidentally, the only reason the league is even allowed to televise football games on Saturday night stems from a legal loophole: the league's antitrust exemption, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, was written when the NFL regular season ended in mid-December, and as such, it contains specific language that prohibits televising NFL games in most markets on Friday nights and all day on Saturdays between the second week of September and the second week of December, to protect high school and college football. Since most high school and college seasons have ended by mid-December, other than bowl games, there has been little desire to close this loophole, even though the regular season has expanded well beyond mid-December since the law's passage.

In 2005, when the NFL negotiated a new set of television contracts, Comcast-owned OLN offered to pay $450 million for an eight-year contract to carry NFL prime time games. In exchange, Comcast planned to add NFL Network to its digital cable lineup. The channel was added, but NFL Network decided to air the games itself, foregoing a rights fee.[1] The other television deals generated $3.735 billion per year over an eight-year period for CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and DirecTV (owner of the out-of-market sports package NFL Sunday Ticket).

Thursday Night Football debuted on November 23, 2006, with the Kansas City Chiefs handing the visiting Denver Broncos a 19–10 Thanksgiving defeat. Each of the game broadcasts were titled either Thursday Night Football or Saturday Night Football, depending on the night on which it aired. This format carried over to the 2007 season.

Starting in 2008, NFL Network eliminated all but one of the Saturday night games and started their Thursday night package three weeks earlier. This was done to accommodate the earlier schedule and the league's antitrust exemption that prohibits Saturday games from being held for most of the season. In the following season, all references to Saturday Night Football were dropped, and any games that are not played on Thursday (such as in 2016, two Christmas weekend games and an NFL International Series game) have since been branded as "special editions" of Thursday Night Football, and later Thursday Night Special or NFL Network Special. The Thanksgiving matchup was moved from NFL Network to NBC's Sunday Night Football package as part of the new broadcast contract after the 2011 season. During Super Bowl week in 2012, it was announced that the Thursday Night Football package would expand from eight to 13 games and air on NFL Network, again soliciting and rejecting offers from Turner Sports and Comcast.

For the 2012 season, a Spanish-language broadcast was added as second audio program.

In January 2014, it was reported that the NFL was planning to sub-license a package of up to eight Thursday Night Football games to another broadcaster for the 2014 NFL season. The league had negotiated with its existing broadcast partners, along with Turner Sports. These eight games were to be simulcast by NFL Network, and reports indicated that ESPN planned to place the games on ABC in the event it won the rights, bringing the NFL back to the network for the first time since Super Bowl XL and the move of Monday Night Football to ESPN in 2006.[2][3][4][5] The remaining games would remain exclusive to NFL Network, in order to satisfy carriage agreements with television providers guaranteeing a minimum number of games to air exclusively on the channel.[6] The decision came as the league wished to heighten the profile of its Thursday night games, which had suffered from relatively lower viewership and advertising revenue in comparison to other games.[7]

On February 5, 2014, the NFL announced that CBS had acquired the partial rights to TNF for the 2014 season. Under the agreement, all of the Thursday Night Football telecasts would be produced by CBS Sports and called by the network's primary announcing team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. The first eight games of the season were simulcast nationally on NFL Network and CBS; the remaining games in the package only aired nationally on NFL Network, but per league broadcast policies, were simulcast on local stations in the participating teams' markets. CBS affiliates were given right of first refusal to air the local simulcast before it is offered to another station (as had occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio where the market's NBC affiliate WLWT aired a game between the Bengals and the Cleveland Browns instead of CBS affiliate WKRC-TV). A Saturday doubleheader was also added on Week 16: NFL Network aired the early game, while CBS aired the second, prime time game.[8][9][10][11][12]

The NFL considered CBS's bid to be the most attractive, owing to the network's overall ratings stature (CBS had been the highest-rated broadcast network in the U.S. since the 2005-06 television season), a commitment to aggressively promote the Thursday games across its properties, and its plans to utilize CBS Sports' top NFL talent and production staff across all of the games in the package to ensure a major improvement in quality over the previous, in-house productions.[7] CBS staff also cited experience with its joint coverage of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament with Turner Sports as an advantage in its collaboration with NFL Network staff, as talent from both networks collaborate on pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage. During the games, a distinct graphics package co-branded with both CBS and NFL Network logos is used, certain players on each team wear microphones, and 4K cameras are used to allow zoom-in shots during instant replays.[11][13]

With the move of selected games to CBS, media executives expected more major match-ups to appear on Thursday Night Football than in previous years in order to attract better viewership; in the past, Thursday Night Football had been criticized for often featuring games between lesser and poorer-performing teams.[14][15] CBS and the NFL unveiled the games scheduled for Thursday Night Football in April 2014; CBS's slate of games featured a number of major divisional rivalries, including New York Giants–Washington, Green Bay–Minnesota, and its opening game on September 11, 2014, featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.[10][16]

In the wake of the controversy surrounding Ravens player Ray Rice (who had been removed from the team and suspended from the NFL earlier in the week following the discovery of footage showing the player physically assaulting his wife, Janay, who was engaged to Rice at the time the security camera footage was recorded), changes were made to pre-game coverage on the first game in order to accommodate additional interviews and discussion related to the incident. Among these changes were the removal of an introductory segment featuring Rihanna (who was similarly assaulted by fellow performer Chris Brown in 2009) performing her song "Run This Town".[17][18] Following complaints by Rihanna on Twitter regarding the removal, the song was pulled entirely from future broadcasts.[19]

The rights were negotiated under a one-year contract valued at $275 million; on January 18, 2015, the NFL announced that it would renew the arrangement with CBS for the 2015 season, with its value increasing to around $300 million.[20][7][21]

In November 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that in response to the success of the package under CBS, the NFL was planning to negotiate a long-term contract for TNF, with CBS, Fox, NBC, and Turner Sports showing interest.[21] The New York Post reported that this deal would also include the sale of a stake in NFL Network itself.[6]

On December 16, 2015, it was reported that the NFL was shopping the TNF package as a one-year deal with an option for a second year, similarly to the current arrangement with CBS; the league also requested that bidders outline goals for "growing" NFL Network. The league was also reportedly interested in selling non-exclusive digital rights to simulcast the games to another partner, such as Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Google, or Yahoo! (which exclusively streamed an International Series as part of a trial during the 2015 season, but would shut down its original video content service in January 2016).[22] In January 2016, it was reported that the NFL was considering splitting the Thursday Night Football package across multiple broadcasters in tandem with the possibility of expanding the overall package to 17 games. It was also reported that ESPN and Turner Sports were not interested in the package due to its short-term nature, and that Fox was attempting to outbid CBS.[23][24]

On February 1, 2016, the NFL announced that Thursday Night Football would be shared between CBS, NBC, and NFL Network for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. CBS and NBC would each air five games (resulting in a schedule of 10 games on broadcast TV in comparison to 8 under the previous deal), followed by an additional eight games exclusively on NFL Network to satisfy NFL Network's retransmission consent contracts with cable providers; the eight NFL Network-exclusive games included six Thursday contests, a Sunday morning International Series contest, and a Christmas Day game. As with the previous contract, all games will be simulcast by NFL Network. Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the league was "thrilled to add NBC to the Thursday Night Football mix, a trusted partner with a proven track record of success broadcasting NFL football in primetime, and look forward to expanding with a digital partner for what will be a unique tri-cast on broadcast, cable and digital platforms."[25][26] On April 5, 2016, it was revealed that Twitter had acquired non-exclusive worldwide digital streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television TNF games. The collaboration will also include streaming content on Twitter's Periscope service, such as behind the scenes access.[27]

Rogers Media, who owns television rights to the Thursday Night Football package in Canada through the end of the 2016 season but has not yet acquired digital rights (the majority of the NFL's media rights in Canada are owned by Rogers's rival, Bell Media), successfully forced Twitter to block the game streams in that country, overriding the league's insistence that the free stream be global.[28][29] Due to the streaming deal, over-the-top television providers PlayStation Vue and Sling TV are also required to black out the simulcast of the games on NFL Network.[30]

The first game produced by NBC Sports was broadcast exclusively on NFL Network on November 3, 2016, while the first game simulcast nationally on NBC aired on November 17. A cappella group Pentatonix recorded a reworked version of their song "Sing" ("Weekend Go") to serve as the opening theme song for NBC's Thursday Night Football telecasts;[31][32] NBC also commissioned new instrumental theme music by Jimmy Greco, "Can't Hold Us Down", which was performed by members of the orchestra from the Broadway musical Hamilton.[33] Both were retained for NBC's games in 2017.

On April 4, 2017, it was announced that Amazon.com had acquired non-exclusive streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television games for the 2017 season over their Amazon Prime Video service, under a deal valued at $50 million, a five-fold increase over the $10 million paid by Twitter. The streams were exclusive to paid Prime subscribers.[34] The deal includes $30 million worth of promotion.[35] Amazon planned several special features for its inaugural game, including broadcasting alternate feeds with Spanish, Portuguese, and a secondary English broadcast featuring soccer commentators Ross Dyer and Tommy Smyth (intended for international viewers unfamiliar with the rules and terminology of American football), and a pre-show hosted by Tiki Barber and Curtis Stone that featured presentations of NFL merchandise available for purchase on Amazon.[36][37][38][39]

The November 16, 2017 telecast between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans was the first NFL broadcast to intentionally use the Skycam as its primary camera angle, as opposed to the usual sideline camera that has been used since telecasts of NFL games began in 1939. NBC Sports had previously switched to a skycam-only presentation for portions of two Sunday night games earlier that season because of fog and smoke (and, sixteen years prior, during its coverage of the XFL); positive reaction to the impromptu change prompted NBC to experiment with using the strategy for the full game.[40] The Skycam Angle was also used for the December 14 telecast between the Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts.

In early January 2018, Bloomberg reported that ABC/ESPN and Fox Sports had both made bids for the next TNF package. Both Fox and Fox Sports 1 were named as potential outlets for the package in the Fox Sports bid, which was intended to showcase Fox's continued commitment to sports after the sale of its entertainment businesses to ESPN's majority-owner The Walt Disney Company (which excluded the Fox network itself and Fox Sports' national operations, such as FS1, among other assets). CBS and NBC were also considering renewing their existing contracts, but had requested a lower rights fee to compensate for the decreasing viewership of the NFL (TNF had been cited as one factor in the downturn, due to a perceived oversaturation of nationally televised games). It was also reported that the NFL would also allow digital companies to make bids for exclusive rights to the TNF package which forego a television partner entirely, unlike the previous non-exclusive deals with Twitter and Amazon.[41]

On January 30, 2018, it was reported by multiple sources that Fox had won the package.[42][43] The next day, the NFL officially announced that Fox had acquired the broadcast television rights to the TNF package under a five-year deal lasting from 2018 through 2022 (which is aligned with the conclusion of the NFL's other television deals). The Fox network will air 11 games per season in simulcast with NFL Network, and will also produce the games exclusive only to NFL Network and their syndicated partners in the markets of each team. ESPN reported that Fox would be paying around $60 million per game—an increase over the estimated $45 million per game paid by CBS and NBC under the previous contract, totaling an estimated $660 million per season.[44][45]

Amazon renewed its digital rights for the 2018 and 2019 season; in contrast to 2017 in which the games required an Amazon Prime subscription, for 2018 and 2019, Amazon also carries game coverage for free on its live streaming platform Twitch.[46] Alongside the main Fox feed, British English, and Spanish options, the Amazon Prime streams offer an alternate commentary feed featuring ESPN anchor Hannah Storm and NFL Network chief correspondent Andrea Kremer—the first all-female commentary team in NFL history.[47] The Twitch streams offer access to the service's standard chat room (along with special football-themed emotes), an interactive extension, and co-streams featuring prominent personalities, while streams on Amazon Fire devices offer integration with the X-Ray feature to access statistics and other content.[48]

Fox employs 45 cameras, a dual-skycam setup, triple-lens pylon cameras, and will leverage Intel True View replay systems where available. Resources are also being shared with Fox News Channel in New York City, including use of its Studio F for studio segments, as well as an outdoor plaza setup on Sixth Avenue (Fox Square) with a scaled football field and an audience.[49][50] A new insert graphics package was produced by Drive Studio, inspired by Times Square to reflect its New York City-based studio programming (unlike previous TNF broadcasters, Fox utilizes the same in-game presentation and graphics as it does during all other NFL broadcasts).[51]

For 2019, Fox announced that it would produce all of its games in 1080p upscaled to 4K, with Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) high-dynamic range color, beginning with its season premiere September 26, 2019. The telecasts were distributed via the Fox Sports app, Prime Video, and to participating television providers. HDR is only supported through television providers, but Fox stated that HDR and surround sound support would be enabled via streaming "soon".[52]

Due a carriage dispute between Dish Network and Fox resulting in the removal of its owned-and-operated stations and cable networks, it was reported that Fox had pushed NFL Network to black out its simulcast of the October 3, 2019 game for Dish Network subscribers to prevent circumvention. However, due to a clause in Dish's carriage agreement that forbade the channel from performing provider-specific programming substitutions, NFL Network agreed to forego the simulcast entirely, and the game was made exclusive to Fox (making it the first TNF game to not air in some capacity on NFL Network).[53][54] Fox and Dish agreed to a multi-year carriage agreement on October 6, 2019.[55]

On April 29, 2020, Amazon renewed its digital rights through the 2022 season, maintaining the TNF simulcasts and digital content, and also adding exclusive international rights to one late-season game per-season outside of the package (which will be produced by CBS).[56] For its simulcasts, Amazon replaced the British feed with a new "Scout's Feed" with extended analysis by Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah (akin to the ESPN "film room" broadcasts of college football games), and "NFL Next Live" on Twitch (with viewer interactivity).[57]

On October 19, because of a COVID-19 outbreak involving the Tennessee Titans, the originally scheduled Thursday Night game between the Chiefs and Bills, was moved to the following Monday due to Tennessee playing Buffalo the previous Tuesday. The Chiefs won 26–17. In a similar move, the Ravens had their scheduled Week 13 TNF game against the Cowboys postponed to the following Tuesday. The Ravens had dealt with their own outbreak, which included positive tests from players including reigning MVP Lamar Jackson. For that reason, the Ravens had to postpone their Thanksgiving game against the Steelers three times, the first time was originally postponed to the Sunday after Thanksgiving in the afternoon, then postponed a second time to the following Tuesday night, then postponed again to the following Wednesday in the afternoon. The postponements forced the Steelers’ Week 13 game against the Washington Football Team to be moved from Sunday, December 6, to Monday, December 7, and as mentioned, the Cowboys-Ravens game a day later, with both games remaining on Fox.

The initial NFL Network team consisted of HBO Sports' Bryant Gumbel as play-by-play announcer, NBC Sports' Cris Collinsworth as the color commentator for the Thursday telecasts, and Dick Vermeil replacing Collinsworth for Saturday telecasts. In 2007, Collinsworth replaced Vermeil alongside Gumbel for all games.

Gumbel left the network after the 2007 season and his then-HBO colleague Bob Papa, who is also the radio voice of the New York Giants, was brought in to replace him. Collinsworth stayed on until the end of the 2008 season, then left to take over for the retiring John Madden as lead analyst on NBC Sunday Night Football. NFL Network replaced him with Matt Millen, who returned to broadcasting in 2009, and then added former ESPN analyst Joe Theismann for 2010.

For 2011, then ESPN and now CBS play-by-play man Brad Nessler took over the Thursday night broadcast. He was joined by NFL Network draft analyst and NBC Notre Dame color man Mike Mayock, and the pairing spent three seasons calling games.

As a result of CBS taking over production responsibilities for the TNF broadcasts, its number one broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms took over the broadcast booth.[12] With NBC adding games in 2016, Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, the broadcast team of NBC Sunday Night Football, were required under league contract to do the same. NBC had initially hired former Monday Night Football play-by-play man Mike Tirico for Thursdays before the league nixed the idea of any separate broadcast teams for Sunday and Thursday nights. Tirico would eventually call three Sunday Night Football games, including the Thanksgiving night game which is in the SNF package, in order for NBC to allow Michaels over a week's rest before the end of the season.[26][58] Tirico would also call the December 22, 2016 TNF game alongside Collinsworth, as well as two NBC-produced Thursday Night Special game broadcasts on December 18 and Christmas Day, respectively, both alongside former USFL and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie, who serves as the analyst for NBC's college football coverage as well.[59] On May 31, 2017, it was announced that Mike Tirico would replace Al Michaels full-time for NBC's Thursday Night Football games.[60] For 2017, Kurt Warner would similarly fill in for Collinsworth on two non-Thursday games.[61]

For 2017, CBS hired Tony Romo as its lead color commentator. Numerous complications needed to be resolved, namely Romo's reluctance to cover both Sunday and Thursday nights as required under the Thursday Night Football contract,[62] and the fact that Simms remains under contract with CBS through the next several years.[63] However, the network confirmed via press release that Romo's duties would include Sunday and Thursday games.[64]

With TNF moving to Fox in 2018, the network announced that its top team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman would call the games, after months of speculaction that 5x NFL MVP Peyton Manning would be hired by the network to call their Thursday games. The duo was joined by Erin Andrews, who normally works with Buck and Aikman on Sundays, Kristina Pink, and Mike Pereira, one of two rule analysts for Fox. In previous seasons prior to Fox's TNF contract, Buck did not call any NFL games during late October, working Major League Baseball playoff games instead. For 2018, none of Fox's scheduled MLB playoff broadcasts landed on a Thursday (Fox carried the NLCS and the World Series that year), so Buck continued to broadcast both sports, crisscrossing the country in seven cities over a 22-day period.[65] The following year, the Chiefs–Broncos telecast fell on the same evening as Game 4 of the ALCS, requiring Buck to leave New York City for Denver and Joe Davis to fill in on baseball.[66]

NFL Network has occasionally used non-Fox Sports broadcast teams for the games that air exclusively on that network. On October 14, 2018, the NFL announced via press release, that the NFL GameDay Morning studio team of Rich Eisen, Steve Mariucci, Kurt Warner, and Michael Irvin, would be calling the Eagles-Jaguars London Game on October 28. They were joined by Melissa Stark, who made her first appearance as a sideline reporter since ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXXVII, and Peter Schrager, from Fox Sports, and NFL Network's Good Morning Football. The network kept the 4-man booth for the 2019 London Games.

For 2018 and 2019, NFL Network borrowed Mike Tirico from former TNF holder NBC to serve as play-by-play for the network's Saturday games (Browns-Broncos and Ravens-Chargers in 2018, and Bills-Patriots in 2019), and reunited him with Warner on color commentary. Tirico and Warner were joined by Schrager on the sidelines.[67] The early Saturday games in 2018 (Texans-Jets and Redskins-Titans) were announced by the trio of Curt Menefee, Steve Mariucci, and Nate Burleson, with Stark on the sideline. Menefee and Mariucci were both dropped from Saturday coverage in 2019, as they was replaced by Eisen and Joe Thomas for Texans-Buccaneers, the early game of the tripleheader in 2019, while Fox's B-Team of Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis, and Pam Oliver called Rams-49ers, the third game of the 2019 Saturday tripleheader. Tirico had been scheduled to call Saturday games again in 2020, but after Al Michaels failed to clear NBC protocols for COVID-19, Tirico was dispatched to Sunday Night Football and Joe Davis worked the Saturday broadcasts with Warner.[68]

Each game telecast is preceded on NFL Network by NFL GameDay Kickoff, which broadcasts live from the site of each game and currently features Colleen Wolfe as its host, with Joe Thomas, Michael Irvin and Steve Smith Sr., or other NFL Network colleagues as analysts. The show generally begins two hours before game time (6:00 p.m. ET). NFL Network later introduced a second studio show earlier in the afternoon, TNF First Look, hosted by Andrew Siciliano.[69]

The game is usually preceded by a pre-game show; CBS games were preceded by Thursday Night Kickoff, hosted by James Brown, Bill Cowher, and Deion Sanders. NBC games were preceded by Football Night in America (renamed in reference of the host city of the game, such as Football Night in Tampa), hosted by Liam McHugh, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison. NBC and CBS joined Thursday Night Kickoff and Football Night in America at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time during its games.[13] This resulted in some controversy among viewers and the producers of syndicated programming in the locally programmed timeslot before network primetime, where the pre-game affects programs such as Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Entertainment Tonight (all distributed by CBS's sister syndication division CBS Television Distribution), along with several other programs, which then require pre-emption or slotting on lower-profile alternate timeslots or stations to air in markets where they are carried by CBS, Fox, or NBC affiliates in order to accommodate the Thursday games.[70]

For Fox, the game telecast is preceded by Fox NFL Thursday. In 2018, it was hosted with a fixed lineup hosted by Michael Strahan, with analyst Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and insider Jay Glazer.[71] In 2019, Strahan remained host, but with Bradshaw and Long rotating as analyst, alongside analyst Tony Gonzalez, and insider Peter Schrager, serving as insider. Fox also signed Rob Gronkowski to make appearances on the program.[72] To accommodate Strahan's commitments to ABC's morning show Good Morning America, the program was broadcast from New York City rather than Fox Sports' Los Angeles studios.[73] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pre-game show was moved to Los Angeles with Curt Menefee serving as main host, but with Strahan and Glazer making remote appearances.[74]

Westwood One provides national radio broadcasts of the Thursday Night Football games through a contract of currently unknown length (Westwood One quietly renewed the rights after parent company Cumulus Media departed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy). During the 2017 season, Ian Eagle called play-by-play, with Tony Boselli handling color analysis and Hub Arkush as the sideline reporter.[75] Until 2018, Boomer Esiason, the Monday Night Football analyst for Westwood One, has been a regular substitute if Boselli was unavailable due to other commitments (in some cases, Esiason would call the Thursday night game if he is unavailable for the previous/next Monday night game and/or if the Thursday game is in close proximity to his New York home).

NFL GameDay Kickoff

• Colleen Wolfe - pre-game host (2018–present)
• Michael Irvin – studio analyst (2011–present); fill-in game analyst (2018–2019)
• Steve Smith Sr. - studio analyst (2017–present)
• Joe Thomas - pregame analyst (2018–present); fill-in game analyst (2019)

Fox NFL Thursday

• Michael Strahan – Fox host (2018–2019); contributor (2020)
• Curt Menefee - NFLN fill-in play-by-play (2018); Fox host (2020)
• Charissa Thompson - Fox secondary host (2018-2019); contributor (2020-present)
• Terry Bradshaw – Fox studio analyst (2018, 2020); rotating studio analyst (2019)
• Howie Long – Fox studio analyst (2018); rotating studio analyst (2019); contributor (2020)
• Jimmy Johnson - Fox contributor (2020–present)
• Tony Gonzalez - Fox fill-in studio analyst (2018); full-time studio analyst (2019–present)
• ’Cousin’ Sal Iacono - Fox prognosticator (2019–present)
• Reggie Bush - Fox fill-in studio analyst (2019–present)
• Michael Vick - Fox fill-in studio analyst (2020–present)
• Jay Glazer – NFLN pre-game analyst (2010–2011); Fox insider (2018); contributor (2020)

Fox/NFLN game coverage

• Joe Buck – Fox play-by-play (2018–present)
• Troy Aikman – Fox color analyst (2018–present)
• Mike Pereira - Fox rules expert (2018–present)
• Erin Andrews – Fox sideline reporter (2018–present)
• Kristina Pink – Fox sideline reporter (2018–present)

NFL Network Special game coverage

• Adam Amin – Fox fill-in play-by-play (2020–present)
• Mark Schlereth – Fox fill-in color commentator (2020–present)
• Lindsay Czarniak - Fox fill-in sideline reporter (2020–present)
• Joe Davis - Fox fill-in play-by-play (2020–present)
• Kurt Warner – NFLN color analyst (2010–2011); fill-in game analyst (2017–present)
• Melissa Stark - fill-in sideline reporter (2018–present)
• Dean Blandino - rules expert (2019–present)

Prime Video/Twitch game coverage

• Hannah Storm – Prime Video/Twitch play-by-play (2018–present)
• Andrew Catalon - Prime Video/Twitch Saturday play-by-play (2020–present)
• Andrea Kremer – Prime Video/Twitch game analyst (2018–present)
• James Lofton - Prime Video/Twitch Saturday game analyst (2020–present)
• Sherree Burress - Prime Video/Twitch Saturday sideline reporter (2020–present)

• James Brown – CBS Host (2014–2017)
• Kevin Burkhardt - Fox fill-in play-by-play (2019)
• Nate Burleson - fill-in game analyst (2018–2019)
• Fran Charles – NFLN pre-game host (2010)
• Cris Collinsworth - NFLN color commentator (2006-2008); NBC Color Commentator (2016–2017)
• Bob Costas – NBC Host (2016)
• Bill Cowher – CBS Analyst (2014–2017)
• Heather Cox – NBC Sideline Reporter (2016–2017)
• Charles Davis - NFLN fill-in analyst (2019)
• Jenny Dell – CBS Fill-in Sideline Reporter (2014)
• Tony Dungy – NBC Analyst and Fill-in Color Analyst (2016–2017)
• Ross Dyer - UK Feed/Amazon Prime Video Fill-in Play-by-Play (2017)
• Ian Eagle – CBS Fill-in Play-by-Play (2014–2015) (Still calls TNF on the Radio)
• Rich Eisen - Host (2006-2017); fill-in play-by-play (2018–2019)
• Jamie Erdahl - CBS Fill-in Sideline Reporter (2017)
• Marshall Faulk – Analyst (2006–2017 Week 14)
• Alex Flanagan – NFLN sideline reporter (2010–2013)
• Doug Flutie – NBC Fill-in Color Commentator (2016)
• Trent Green – CBS Fill-in Color Commentator (2015–2017)
• Bryant Gumbel – NFLN play-by-play (2006–2007)
• Greg Gumbel – CBS Fill-in Play-by-Play (2017)
• Tom Hammond – NFLN substitute play-by-play (2007)
• Scott Hanson – NFLN sideline reporter (2009)
• Rodney Harrison – NBC Analyst (2016–2017)
• Dan Hellie - Fill-in Host (2017)
• Kara Henderson – NFLN pre-game host (2011)
• Harry Kalas – NFLN sponsorship announcer (2006–2008; deceased)
• Steve Mariucci – studio analyst (2006–2019); fill-in game analyst (2018–2019)
• Mike Mayock – NFLN color analyst (2011–2013)
• Liam McHugh – Fill-in NBC Host (2016); NBC Host (2017)
• Al Michaels - NBC play-by-play (2016)
• Matt Millen – NFLN color analyst (2009–2010)
• Jim Mora – NFLN pre-game analyst (2010)
• Jim Nantz – CBS Play-by-Play (2014–2017)
• Brad Nessler – NFLN play-by-play (2011–2013)
• Pam Oliver - Fox fill-in sideline reporter (2019)
• Bob Papa – NFLN play-by-play (2008–2010)
• Dan Patrick - NBC Fill-in Host (2017)
• Tony Romo – CBS Color analyst (2017)
• Deion Sanders – CBS Analyst (2006–2017)
• Warren Sapp – NFLN pre-game analyst (2008)
• Adam Schefter – NFLN sideline reporter (2006–2008)
• Peter Schrager - fill-in sideline reporter (2018–present); Fox insider (2019)
• Sterling Sharpe – NFLN pre-game analyst (2010–2011)
• Phil Simms – CBS Color analyst (2014–2016)
• Pat Summerall – NFLN sponsorship announcer (2009; deceased)
• Joe Theismann – NFLN color commentator (2010)
• Mike Tirico - NBC fill-in host and fill-in play-by-play (2016); full-time play-by-play (2017); fill-in play-by-play (2018–2019)
• Amber Theoharis - Fill-in Host (2016–2017)
• Dick Vermeil – NFLN Saturday color commentator (2006)
• Evan Washburn – CBS fill-in Sideline Reporter (2015)
• Tracy Wolfson – CBS Sideline Reporter (2014–2017)

• Ian Eagle – play-by-play (2008–present)
• Tony Boselli – color analyst (2015–present)

• Bonnie Bernstein – sideline reporter (2006–2007)
• Randy Cross – color analyst (2009)
• Dick Enberg – play-by-play (2006–2007)--deceased
• Dennis Green – color analyst (2007–2008)
• Mike Mayock – color analyst (2014)
• Tim Ryan – color analyst (2015) Select Games
• Sam Wyche – color analyst (2006)--deceased

Upon the original launch of the Thursday and Saturday night games, few television service providers carried the NFL Network due to disputes during the network's terms in its carriage contracts during negotiations. These disputes were magnified throughout the 2007 season, as two high-profile matchups were to be broadcast by the network. The first was a matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers which was scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving and saw both teams at 10–1, vying for the top seed in the NFC, and the second was Week 17 Saturday night game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, where the Patriots had a chance to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to end a regular season undefeated.

In the first case, fans were displeased that a matchup between two teams at such a critical point in the season was not available on broadcast television except in the Dallas and Green Bay markets. To avoid such a problem with the potential sixteenth victory for the Patriots, CBS and NBC bought broadcast rights to the game so it could be seen by a nationwide audience on both cable and broadcast television. This ended up causing another controversy, however, as the move by the networks infringed on the exclusivity that would normally have been enjoyed by WWOR-TV in New York City and WCVB-TV in Boston, which were the Giants' and Patriots' respective local over-the-air broadcasters for cable-televised games (the game aired on these stations, as well as on WCBS-TV, WNBC, WBZ-TV and WHDH in the teams' market areas).[76]

Thursday Night Football games on NFL Network are among the lowest-rated nationally televised NFL broadcasts. Critics have argued that the games televised on Thursday Night Football have been of lower quality than other prime time games, as they often featured match-ups between lesser or poor-performing teams, and that the shortened rest between games triggered by Thursday games also has an effect on their overall quality.[14][15] In an analysis by Sports on Earth writer Aaron Roberts, it was determined that most Thursday games were of average or above-average quality in comparison to normal, non-prime time games, but that this was "by design" due to the leverage of other NFL broadcasters on how games are scheduled throughout the season (which traditionally prioritizes "major" games for either late-afternoon or Sunday and Monday nights).[77][78]

The move of selected games to CBS brought improved ratings: the inaugural game was the highest-rated program of the night, with an audience share of 13.7 and an average of 20.7 million viewers, representing a 108% increase in ratings over the first NFL Network game in 2013. The game, whose ratings were boosted by coverage of the Ray Rice scandal, also brought CBS its highest prime time ratings on a Thursday night since May 2006. While lower, at 9.6 million viewers, the Week 3 game between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was also the highest-rated program of the night.[79][80][81][82] The first four games of the package, however, featured blowout victories.[83][84] In total, average viewership of the games increased from around 7 million to around 11.8 million in the 2014 season.[85]

Controversy over ratings and the quality of play in Thursday night contests escalated when on November 28, 2016, a report circulated that the league was considering ending the franchise. The NFL, however, denied this rumor.[86] The subsequent game on December 1, 2016 between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings was the highest rated Thursday Night Football of the season.[87][88]

During the 2016 season, current and former players including Richard Sherman,[89] J. J. Watt,[90] and Charles Woodson [91] expressed their dislikes for Thursday Night Football, with Richard Sherman calling it a "poopfest".[92]

The September 20, 2018 game between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, which saw the debut of Cleveland's first overall pick Baker Mayfield, as well as the team breaking a nearly two-year losing streak, set a record for the highest-rated NFL Network-exclusive broadcast in Thursday Night Football history, with a 5.2 household rating and over 8 million viewers.[93]

As mentioned, a team needing to play a Thursday night game can result in a shortened rest period for players between games.[14][15] On October 6, 2014, Arian Foster, then of the Houston Texans, made a statement considering it hypocritical for the NFL to emphasize the safety of players (particularly in regards to concussions) while allowing its players to play a game on only three days' rest, which he considered to be equally "dangerous".[84] Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks has also voiced displeasure about Thursday night games reducing prep time, and wrote a 2016 editorial for The Players' Tribune about the games.[94] Sherman's 2017 season (and his run with the Seahawks; he would sign a new deal with the San Francisco 49ers in the 2018 off-season) would end on November 9, 2017 during a Thursday night game against the Arizona Cardinals, when he ruptured his Achilles tendon.[95]

On January 29, 2015, the NFL released its health and safety report, which states that an average of 4.8 injuries were sustained during Thursday games compared to 6.9 injuries per game on Sundays and Mondays.[96]