jon erlichman caught up with cbssports chairman sean mcmanus to talk about the network's investment inght football. he is joining us now with more from l.a. >> this is a story we hear all the time -- these big battles between the broadcasters for sporting rights. the case for this deal for thursday night football, cbs comes out a big winner. they will share the rights with nfl network. the first question i had for sean mcmanus was what was your reaction when you were awarded these rights and what was the reaction of the investors? >> i remember when we finally got the call, i gave leslie a hug, what he said to me was -- and now the real work begins and he is right. it is a lot of work launching a new franchise. we still do up to seven games every sunday of nfl football. we have to do that in addition of thursday night. since wednesday after the super bowl, it has been 85% of my job just on thursday night football. new graphics, new music, new technical facilities. we are using more equipment on each thursday night game than we use on any other game on cbs other than the super bowl. it

the first question i had for sean mcmanus was what was your reaction when you were awarded these rightss the reaction of the investors? >> i remember when we finally got the call, i gave them a hug, what he said to me was and now the real work begins and he is right. it is a lot of work launching a new franchise. we still do up to seven games every sunday of nfl football. we have to do that and addition of thursday night. wednesday after the super bowl, it has been 85% of my job just on thursday night football. new graphics, new music, new technical facilities. we are using more equipment on thursday night game and use on any other game on cbs other than the super bowl. it is a huge commitment. >> in terms of numbers, the thursday night game on the nfl network was averaging somewhere between 6 million and 8 million. thursday night on cbs are pulling in much larger audiences. you have any expectations on how many people will turne in? >> i think the ratings will be really good. we have significant divisional matchups. i think we will have great ratings. it depends on how good the game is

n erlichman caught up with cbssports chairman sean mcmanus.a listen. >> when we finally got the call, what he said to me was now real work begins. it is a lot work launching a new franchise. we still do up to seven games every sunday of nfl football. and we have thursday night. the wednesday after the super bowl, it has been about 85% of my job on thursday night football. new graphics and music. technical facilityings. we're using more equipment on each thursday night game than we use at any other game on cbs but the super bowl. >> in terms of numbers, the thursday night game was averaging somewhere between 6 million and 8 million viewers. do you have any expectation of how many will be tuning in for thursday night football? >> i do not like to get into specifics for ratings. i think our ratings will be good. i think we will do healthy numbers. so much of the ratings in football and any sport depend upon how good the game is. if you have a competitive game , 11:00 in the fourth quarter your ratings are good. if you have a blowout, it does not.

. ♪ battle for time warner is a reminder sports content is king according to sean mcmanus. new home of thursday night football. withrlichman caught up him. what did he have to say? >> really getting the word out about football. thursday powerful night lineup. i started with getting his reaction. the ceo reaction when they got the rights to thursday night football. >> i remember when we finally got the call. what he said was now the real work begins and he is right because it is a lot of work launching a new franchise. we still. it has been about 85% of my job on wednesday night football. new graphics, new technical facilities. we are using more equipment on each thursday night game other than the super bowl. it is a huge commitment for the network. numbers, thef thursday night game on the nfl network last year was somewhere between 6 million and 8 million. thursday night cbs generally falling and much archer audiences. you have an expectation for how many people may tune into thursday night football? >> i do not want to get into specifics for ratings. we have divisional mat