Amazon Wants Taylor Rooks for 'Thursday Night Football'

In today’s edition of the Front Office Sports newsletter, we take a look at a rising star in sports media who could potentially add NFL coverage to her resume.

In Her Prime

Rising star Taylor Rooks could be adding prime-time NFL coverage to her resume.

Amazon Prime Video is interested in adding the Bleacher Report reporter, host, and anchor to its “Thursday Night Football” coverage, sources tell Front Office Sports.

Rooks focuses primarily on?the NBA?for B/R and Turner Sports, recently interviewing the likes of Shaquille O’Neal and Candace Parker.

But she could contribute feature stories to Amazon, said sources. The tech giant’s exclusive streaming coverage of "TNF" kicks off Sep. 15, with the Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs.

The Georgia native could work for both Amazon and B/R — a non-exclusive relationship that’s becoming more common as sports media companies seek to defray costs.

Amazon game analyst?Kirk Herbstreit, for example, will continue to call?Saturday night?college football games for ESPN’s sister Walt Disney Co. network ABC.

Herbstreit will team with the legendary Al Michaels at Amazon, which is paying?$1 billion a year?for exclusive "TNF" streaming rights through 2033.

During an interview with?Barrett Sports Media?last year, Rooks stated she wanted to do more NFL coverage.

“Just being from Georgia, in the South, I grew up loving football. My dad played football. It was a football house. I love basketball — I love them both, but I just love football a little bit more,” she said.

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