Charissa Thompson

Amazon Bowing First Female-Hosted Thursday Night Football Pre-Game Show, Game Webcasts

September 26, 2018

The NFL has yet to employ a female referee, but Amazon is about to make history on “NFL Thursday Night Football” with the Prime game webcast and special pre-game show – both hosted exclusively by women.

As previously announced, all 11 Thursday Night Football games on Amazon Prime – for the first time – will be called by veteran sports reporters Andrea Kremer and Hannah Storm (replacing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman),

Prior to the webcast, Amazon is debuting “The Drive,” hosted by Fox Sports/ESPN sports reporter Charissa Thompson and reality TV star Rachel Lindsay.

The show will interview two opposing players on and off the field as they gear up for their “Thursday Night Football” game. One interview will be conducted with a player during an in-car ride-along during his daily commute, and the other player interview will take place at the team’s training facilities or the player’s home.

The series (with the first episode available here) will air weekly the Tuesday ahead of each week’s “Thursday Night Football” match-up in the U.S.

“The Drive” and “Thursday Night Football” games will be made available on the Prime Video app for TVs, game consoles, set top boxes, and connected devices, which includes Amazon Fire TV, mobile devices and online.

Charissa Thompson has spent almost a decade covering sports, and currently hosts “NFL GameDay Prime,” which airs Sunday nights on NFL Network and Fox. Prior to joining Fox, she co-hosted ESPN2’s “SportsNation,” and covered the NHL, including the 2010 All-Star Game and Stanley Cup Finals.

In 2010, Thompson reported on the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, the FIFA World Cup, the BCS National Championship Game, Super Bowl LI and the NBA All-Star Game for Yahoo! Sports.

Rachel Lindsay is an attorney, broadcaster, and columnist, with progressive experience in sports and entertainment. Lindsey is best known for her role as a contestant on the 21st season of ABC’s “The Bachelor,” and the lead on the 13th season of “The Bachelorette.” She is the first African-American lead in the franchise’s history. She works as a guest host for ESPN’s “First Take.”