''NFL Network Exclusive Game Series'' (formerly called ''NFL Network Special'') is the branding currently used for broadcasts of

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) games aired by

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

. Prior to the

2022 NFL season The 2022 NFL season was the 103rd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season began on September 8, 2022, with the defending Super Bowl LVI champion 2022 Los Angeles Rams season, Los Angeles Rams falling to 2022 Buffalo Bills sea ...

, the NFL Network Special branding was only used on ''

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to ...

'' ''(TNF'') games not played on Thursdays (from 2022 on it is used for all games); as of 2022, this arrangement has included at least one NFL London Game played in a Sunday morning (U.S. time) window, and one or more late-season games on Saturdays. After having briefly used ''Saturday Night Football'' to brand the games (alongside the overall blanket title ''Run to the Playoffs''), from 2008 through 2016 the games were branded as "special editions" of ''Thursday Night Football'' or a variant thereof (such as ''Thursday Night Special''), and later ''NFL Network Special''. The branding ''NFL Christmas Special'' has also been used for Christmas Day games in the ''TNF'' package, some of which having fallen into this segment of the package). In the 2022 season, ''Thursday Night Football'' moved exclusively to

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

. NFL Network will still carry a package of exclusive games, consisting mainly of international games and late-season Saturday games, with the ''Thursday Night Football''-centric branding having been dropped and replaced by individual brands for each game (such as ''Saturday Showdown'' for the late-season tripleheader). As with all league games carried by a cable network or streaming provider, each game is syndicated to a local broadcast station (or two stations in some cases) in the markets of the two teams, per NFL broadcast rules. In some cases, it may also be available on

Paramount+ with Showtime Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

(for simulcasts on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

) or Peacock Premium Plus (for simulcasts on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

), as these streaming services have local broadcast stations.

Background

Prior to 2017

NFL Network debuted ''Thursday Night Football'' on November 23,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

handing the visiting

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

a 19–10

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

defeat. As part of this package, three games aired on Saturday nights, which were accordingly branded as ''Saturday Night Football'' (not to be confused with ESPN/ABC's college football telecasts of the same name, which ESPN holds a trademark in relation to), with the package as a whole being promoted as the ''Run to the Playoffs''. This format carried over to the 2007 season. Saturday games can only occur in the final weeks of the season, as the ''

Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 affects Title 15 of the United States Code, Chapter 32 "Telecasting of Professional Sports Contest" (§§ 1291-1295) The act amended antitrust laws to allow, among others, sports leagues to pool the broadcast ...

,'' requires blackouts of professional football games—held on Friday evenings or Saturdays from mid-September through mid-December—on television stations within of the venue of a college or high school football game. Starting in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, NFL Network eliminated all but one of the Saturday night games and started their Thursday night package three weeks earlier. In the following season, all references to ''Saturday Night Football'' were dropped, with the entire package now being branded as ''Thursday Night Football'', and non-Thursday games being referred to as a "special edition" of ''Thursday Night Football.'' Beginning in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, the ''Thursday Night Football'' package was sub-licensed to one or more of the NFL's broadcast partners, who produced all games on behalf of NFL Network, and could simulcast selected games in the package on broadcast television. These, by extension, included the non-Thursday games of the package, which were in turn produced by

(with some later produced by

beginning in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

). These games are intended to satisfy NFL Network's carriage agreements, which require that a quota of exclusive games be broadcast by the channel each season, while still allowing some of the games to be simulcast on network television as well. In 2014, CBS used the branding ''Thursday Night Football: Saturday Edition'' for these games—a branding scheme that was especially considered a

misnomer A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the nam ...

when used for a game aired on a Saturday afternoon. By 2016, the games had begun to carry the on-air branding ''Thursday Night Special'' (albeit with some fleeting references to ''Thursday Night Football'' or ''TNF'' still present in on-air graphics), with Christmas Day games assigned to the ''Thursday Night Football'' package accordingly using the branding ''NFL Christmas Special''.

2017–2021

By the 2017 season, the branding ''NFL Network Special'' was adopted for non-Thursday ''TNF'' games exclusive to NFL Network. The games continued to have similar productions to games aired under the ''Thursday Night Football'' title, but with their on-air graphics only containing NFL Network branding (rather than being co-branded with the logos of both NFL Network and the host broadcaster). Beginning in 2018, most ''NFL Network Special'' games became

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

productions as part of its new rights to ''Thursday Night Football''. An exception was an NFL London Game on October 10, 2021, which was instead produced by CBS.

2022–present

holds rights to ''Thursday Night Football'' beginning in the

. There will still be a package of exclusive games on NFL Network, generally consisting of

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

games airing at 9:30 a.m. ET, and late-season Saturday games. NFL Network now markets the broadcasts as its "exclusive game series", branding the late-season Saturday games with distinct titles such as ''Saturday Showdown'' (Late Season Saturday games), and the ''Holiday Classic'' (Christmas Eve/Day games). Production of the games was taken back in-house, and a new graphics package by Two Fresh Creative replaced the ''Thursday Night Football''-centric branding used prior. In Week 16 of 2023, NFL Network added a Sunday night game on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

in lieu of usual broadcaster NBC (which aired an afternoon game that Saturday before on December 23), due to NBC producing a

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

-exclusive game later that same day.

Coverage

Announcers

Play-by-play

Greg Gumbel Gregory Girard Gumbel (May 3, 1946 – December 27, 2024) was an American television sportscaster. He was best known for his various assignments for CBS Sports (most notably, the National Football League and NCAA basketball). He became the firs ...

(2017, 2021) *

Mike Tirico Michael Todd Tirico (; born December 13, 1966) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the lead play-by-play announcer for ''NBC Sunday Night Football'', having replaced Al Michaels in 2022, and is set to become the lead play-by-play anno ...

(2017–2019) *

Rich Eisen Richard Eisen ( ; born June 24, 1969) is an American television sportscaster and radio host. Since 2003, he has worked for NFL Network as a host of various pregame, halftime, and postgame shows and doing occasional play-by-play. He also hosts ...

(2018–2019, 2022–2024) *

Curt Menefee Curt Menefee (born July 22, 1965) is an American broadcaster who hosts the Fox Network's NFL pregame show ''Fox NFL Sunday''. He is also the co-anchor of '' Good Day New York'' on Fox's New York City flagship station, WNYW. Early life and edu ...

(2018) *

Kevin Burkhardt Kevin Burkhardt (born March 2, 1974) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the lead play-by-play voice for the ''NFL on Fox'' and lead studio host for '' Fox Major League Baseball''. Burkhardt was formerly a reporter with SportsNet New ...

(2019, 2021) * Adam Amin (2020) *

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is ...

(2020–2021) *

Kevin Kugler Kevin Kugler (Born August 1972) is an American sportscaster who works in both radio and television. Kugler is currently employed on television by Fox Sports for NFL, college basketball (including on Big Ten Network), MLB and UFL games. On radio, ...

(2022) *

Noah Eagle Noah Eagle (born December 11, 1996) is an American sportscaster. The son of sportscaster Ian Eagle, he is a play-by-play broadcaster for NBC Sports, calling primarily football games for the Big Ten Conference and National Football League, as well ...

(2022) *

Chris Rose Christopher Rose (born January 27, 1971) is an American sportscaster for the NFL Network, and the interim radio play-by-play announcer for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). Outside of football, he is also a commentator ...

(2023–2024) *

Kevin Harlan Kevin Robert Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer, and a 3 time National Sportscaster of Year as voted by his peers. The son of former Green Bay Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NF ...

(2023–2024)

Color

Trent Green Trent Jason Green (born July 9, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Indiana Hoosiers. He was selected by the San ...

(2017, 2023) *

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, whi ...

(2017–2024) *

Michael Irvin Michael Jerome Irvin (born March 5, 1966) is an American sports commentator and former professional football player. He played his entire 12-year career as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 2007, h ...

(2018–2019, 2022) *

Steve Mariucci Stephen Ray Mariucci (born November 4, 1955), nicknamed "Mooch", is an American sportscaster and former football coach who was the head coach of two National Football League (NFL) teams, the San Francisco 49ers ( 1997– 2002) and the Detroit L ...

(2018–2019, 2022) *

Nate Burleson Nathaniel Eugene Burleson (born August 19, 1981) is a Canadian-American television host, football commentator, and former football player. He played professionally as a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Playing college footba ...

(2018–2019, 2022) * Joe Thomas (2019, 2024) * Charles Davis (2019) *

Mark Schlereth Mark Fremont Schlereth (; born January 25, 1966) is an American former professional football player who is a television and radio sportscaster. Schlereth played guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons (1989–2000) with the W ...

(2020) *

Adam Archuleta Adam Jason Archuleta (born November 27, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a safety for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils, and was sel ...

(2021) * Greg Olsen (2021) *

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football for the USC Trojans ...

(2022) *

Jason McCourty Jason McCourty (born August 13, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and was selected by t ...

(2023) *

Dan Orlovsky Dan Orlovsky (born August 18, 1983) is an American American football, football analyst for ESPN and former professional football player. He played as a quarterback for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily as a backup. Or ...

(2023) *

Ross Tucker Ross Finch Tucker (born March 2, 1979) is an American former professional football offensive lineman and current Emmy nominated sports broadcaster. Tucker was an All-Ivy League offensive lineman at Princeton University then played seven seasons ...

(2024)

Reporters

* Jamie Erdahl (2017, 2022–2024) *

Heather Cox Heather Cox ( Schoeny) (born June 3, 1970) is an American sportscaster who is a sports reporter for NBC. As Heather Schoeny, she played college volleyball at University of the Pacific. Biography High school Cox attended Capistrano Valley ...

(2017) *

Melissa Stark Melissa Zoey Stark (born 1973) is an American television personality and sportscaster, best known as the current sideline reporter for ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' and the former sideline reporter for ''Monday Night Football''. Formerly a rep ...

(2018–2021) * Peter Schrager (2018–2019, 2021–2022) *

Pam Oliver Pam Oliver (born ) is an American sportscaster known for her work on the sidelines for various National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) games. Early life and education Oliver was born in Dallas, Texas. She att ...

(2019, 2021) *

Lindsay Czarniak Lindsay Ann Czarniak (born ) is an American sports anchor and reporter. She formerly worked for Fox Sports as a sideline reporter for NFL games. After spending six years with WRC-TV, the NBC owned-and-operated station in Washington, D.C., Cza ...

(2020, 2022) * A.J. Ross (2021) *

Steve Wyche Steve Wyche (; born May 28, 1966) is an American reporter for NFL Network. He appeared in the weekday morning show NFL AM. Early years Wyche is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He played quarterback, running back and outside linebacker in hi ...

(2021–2024) *

Laura Okmin This article is a list of every person who has served as an on-camera announcer for the ''NFL on Fox'': List of current announcers A * Kenny Albert: play-by-play (1994–present) *Erin Andrews: sideline reporter and ''Fox NFL Sunday'' feature ...

(2022) *

Stacey Dales Stacey Dales (born September 5, 1979) is a Canadian-American former basketball player and a current reporter on the NFL Network. Dales was born in Collingwood, Ontario, and raised in Brockville, Ontario. Basketball career High school Before att ...

(2022–2024) *

Sara Walsh Sara Elizabeth Walsh (born April 12, 1978) is an American sportscaster who currently works for NFL Network. She worked for ESPN from 2010 to 2017. Walsh came to ESPN from WUSA in Washington, D.C., where she served as the station's weekend spor ...

(2022–2023) * Tom Pelissero (2022) *

Allison Williams Allison Howell Williams (born April 13, 1988) is an American actress. She first received attention on YouTube and as a member of the improv comedy troupe Just Add Water. She then played Marnie Michaels in the HBO comedy-drama series ''Girls'' ...

(2022) * Melanie Collins (2023) * James Palmer (2023) * Sherree Burruss (2023)

References

External links

* * {{National Football League on television and radio 2017 American television series debuts 2010s American sports television series 2020s American sports television series CBS Sports NFL on NBC NFL Network original programming Simulcasts

Background

Prior to 2017

2017–2021

2022–present

Coverage

Announcers

Play-by-play

Color

Reporters

See also

References

External links