For the 2014 regular season, NFL Network and CBS will partner to bring the excitement of Thursday Night Football to a broader audience, as the broadcast television network will carry an eight-game schedule.
The NFL and CBS announced the agreement earlier this week which will bring an another eight Thursday games to broadcast television, in addition to the annual Thanksgiving Day games carried by CBS, FOX and NBC.
"We are very pleased to build on our outstanding partnership with the NFL by expanding our coverage to Thursday nights," CBS Corporation President and CEO Les Moonves said in a statement, according to CBSSports.com. "CBS is a premium content company and the NFL represents the best premium content there is. I look forward to all this new deal will do for us not only on Thursday nights, but across our entire schedule."
Through the partnership, CBS will produce 14 Thursday Night Football and two Saturday games, with the latter contests to be aired on NFL Network. NFL Network hosts will be utilized for pregame, halftime and postgame shows, and CBS's lead broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and color analyst Phil Simms will call the games.
CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus is proud of the network's relationship with the NFL, and is pleased to be able to extend that partnership for the 2014 season.
"The NFL is the most powerful programming in television," McManus said. "To add a primetime NFL package to our successful Sunday AFC package further strengthens our position in the sports marketplace. We look forward to having Jim and Phil and our top production team showcased in prime time on Thursday nights."
According to the CBS Sports report, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is thrilled with the agreement, which the league can extend into the 2015 regular season.
"NFL Network built Thursday into a night for NFL fans," Goodell said, according to CBSSports.com. "Our goal is to bring these games to more fans on broadcast television with unprecedented promotion and visibility for Thursday Night Football on CBS."
