Voices get ready for college football and the NFL pre-seaon; Changes in the booth, Tom Brady joins Fox
By Jake Baskin 07/31/2024
Handy tidbits shared as Fall approaches –
NFL:
Pittsburgh Steelers: Bill Hillgrove leaves the radio booth after 30 seasons, though he will still call University of Pittsburgh football and basketball. His successor has not yet been named.
Fox National
Per Andrew Marchand of the Athletic, the broadcast pairings will be as follows:
FOX: The broadcast pairings for this year will be as follows:
- Kevin Burkhardt-Tom Brady
- Joe Davis-Greg Olsen
- Adam Amin-Mark Sanchez
- Kenny Albert-Jonathan Vilma
- Kevin Kugler-Daryl “Moose” Johnston
- Chris Myers-Mark Schlereth
CBS National:
CBS: The broadcast pairings for this year will be as follows:
- Jim Nantz-Tony Romo
- Ian Eagle-Charles Davis
- Kevin Harlan-Trent Green
- Andrew Catalon-Tiki Barber-Jason McCourty
- Spero Dedes-Adam Archuleta
- Tom McCarthy-Jay Feely-Ross Tucker
ESPN: Joe Buck-Troy Aikman
Thursday Night Football: Al Michaels-Kirk Herbstreit
NFL NETWORK Rich Eisen (Play-by-Play)
NHL LOCAL:
Boston Bruins: Citing speech issues, Jack Edwards retires after 17 seasons as the team’s primary announcer and 19 seasons overall with the Bruins. His replacement has not yet been named.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Jeff Rimer retires after 19 seasons with the team on television. His replacement will be Penguins radio announcer Steve Mears.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Radio play-by-play man Steve Mears left for Columbus. The team has not yet named his replacement. It has also been reported that radio color commentator Phil Bourque will move up to television full-time after splitting with two other former Penguins on TV last season.
Chicago Blackhawks: Chris Vosters was let go as television play-by-play after two seasons. Flames announcer Rick Ball will move south of the border and succeed him.
Calgary Flames: Rick Ball left for Chicago at the expiration of his contract. His successor has not been named yet, though I would guess television partner Sportsnet keeps that job in-house.
Utah Hockey Club: With the Coyotes moving to Salt Lake City, it has not yet been said which, if any, of TV broadcasters Matt McConnell and Tyson Nash and radio broadcasters Bob Heethuis and Lyndsey Fry will follow the team.
San Jose Sharks: Color commentator Bret Hedican is leaving the broadcast booth to join the Anaheim Ducks organization in a player development role. The Sharks employ an analyst rotation between TV and radio and it has not yet been announced who will join Drew Remenda on a full-time basis.
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NBA Local
Boston Celtics: Mike Gorman retires after 43 years as the TV play-by-play announcer. ESPN’s Drew Carter, 27, is his successor.
NFL Local:
Buffalo Bills: John Murphy is stepping back after 19 years in the play-by-play chair. He had missed the 2023 season following a stroke, but hopes to still be involved in the broadcast in some way. Chris Brown, who had filled in for Murphy last year, is the new full-time announcer.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Bill Hillgrove leaves the radio booth after 30 seasons, though he will still call University of Pittsburgh football and basketball. His successor has not yet been named.
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More: Charlie Weis, A former Notre Dame football coach, was apparently dropped by SiriusXM as a studio host after just a few years. In addition to Notre Dame football, 2005 to 2009 and later 2012 to 2014, with the Kansas Jayhawks, Charlie tiptoed out.
