I remember the painstaking process of my dad muting our TV, rewinding/ fast-forwarding/pausing the game, and frustratedly trying to sync up the video with the audio from our favorite radio announcers. Some people just would prefer to hear their local guys do the game as opposed to national announcers. Heck, some people just want to hear the game without announcers at all! I'm personally a fan of all the national guys — Al Michaels, Joe Buck, Jim Nantz, Cris Collinsworth, Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, etc. — but I'd be stupid not to think that at least a few of those guys get on the nerves of a handful of fans.
There's real potential, though, that Amazon has a solution. Amazon coming up with a convenient way to deal with your daily annoyances? It couldn't be!
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Amazon's approach to their up-and-coming live sports platform has been all about giving the fans "your game, your way." What does that mean exactly? It's still unknown. However, Marchand broke down some of the possibilities, and a lot of that has to do with the all-important aspect of football-watching that has to do with the audio component, particularly announcing.
Marchand says that when Amazon's exclusive "Thursday Night Football" presentation starts up for either the 2022 or 2023 season, they're likely going to present a traditional view, for which they're expected to hire a "big-time play-by-player and one or more analysts." But they're also expected to deliver some alternatives to that traditional broadcast, and Marchand floated some ideas based on discussions he had with Amazon VP of global sports video Marie Donoghue:
— "She did not mention this specific idea, but it seems reasonable to sync up the radio broadcast with the game."
— "With its ownership of Twitch, a streaming platform primarily focused on video games, Amazon is well-positioned in the watch-party approach."
— "There are fan and gambling opportunities in the broadcast space, which sites like Barstool Sports already have popularized."
— "It might even mean the return of the NFL broadcasts without announcers, which Donoghue said proved popular as a feed on Premier League games in England."
That last point should be especially salient for fans who can't stand certain TV announcers, but would prefer to have some sort of game noise on instead of complete silence, as Marchand notes.
And as a formerly aspiring broadcaster, I think it would be so cool to be able to watch a football game and announce it — whether flying solo or with some friends — while there's still game noise in the background. That's my main thought... what are yours? Let us know @AudacySports on Twitter!
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