Al Michaels Says He Isn't Retiring. His Deal Reportedly Ends This Year.

The 81-year-old opened Amazon's “Thursday Night Football” season with his 10th first game at a brand-new NFL stadium.

Al Michaels, 81, called the first regular-season game at Buffalo's new Highmark Stadium on Sept. 17, 2026. It was the 10th new NFL stadium he has opened. Michaels, the play-by-play voice of Amazon's “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video, told USA TODAY Sports by phone last week that he doesn't want a retirement tour. He hasn't announced a last season.

By kickoff, the question had outrun the game. Google's trends board for California, captured at 1:17 a.m. UTC on Sept. 18, 2026, put “al michaels” past 200 searches. A lot of that traffic came down to one question: is he finished after this year?

The claim going around

That the Buffalo Bills–Detroit Lions opener started a farewell season for the 41-year veteran.

What's on the record

USA TODAY Sports asked how much longer he wants to work. Michaels laughed the question off. He said he's living in the moment, the same answer he's been giving for a decade or more. He retold a line he once used on the air, from Marv Levy, the longtime Bills coach: “If you think about retiring, you're already retired.”

He set a standard for himself that has nothing to do with age. “If you lose your passion, then it's time to go,” he told the outlet. He says he still has it.

He isn't the only one with a say. Michaels and his booth partner, the college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, are in the final year of their contracts, according to multiple reports cited by USA TODAY Sports. Michaels acknowledged he doesn't control his own broadcasting future.

He does have a precedent he likes: John Madden, his partner at ABC and NBC, worked Super Bowl 43 between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, then retired quietly that April without a farewell lap. Michaels says he didn't know at the time that it was Madden's last game.

Verdict: unsupported

Nobody has said this is his last season. Michaels says he wants to keep going. The expiring contract leaves the door open, because a run can end without anyone calling it a goodbye. But an expiring contract isn't an announcement, and no announcement exists.

The Los Angeles entries in his stadium ledger are odd ones. SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, home to both the Rams and the Chargers, opened with no crowd in it because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon's best draw last season, per USA TODAY Sports, was the Rams' loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the game that decided the NFC West.

Michaels rates Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City the best sightline in the league. The worst is old Candlestick Park in San Francisco, where the football press box, he said, sat above the blimp. He joked that he should start packing his own scissors for the ribbon cuttings.

Buffalo's new building took criticism in the preseason over seats with blocked views. Michaels toured the place the day before the game. He said he wasn't expecting trouble from his own perch.

Next on his circled list: the Rams host the Kansas City Chiefs in December. The Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals get New Year's Eve, Dec. 31.

Source: usatoday.com, retrieved September 18, 2026.