The 25 most impactful play-by-play voices of the 21st century

New York Times

a day ago

We live in the greatest era of sports TV play-by-play voices. The ability to describe what we see in front of us, coupled with advances in technology that allow for deeper insight into a sport, has created an environment where viewers are better served than ever before by the people in the TV booth or courtside.
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The list of talented play-by-play voices cuts across all sports, it covers national and local broadcasts, and the profession has become more inclusive as evidenced by women (Lisa Byington, Jenny Cavnar, Tiffany Greene, Beth Mowins, Kate Scott, etc.) finding play-by-play assignments in men's sports.
Broadcasters do not impact viewership numbers, but they are essential for how you process and enjoy a televised sporting event. The Athletic has published many pieces over the last couple of months featuring 'top 25' lists on topics covering the last 25 years, and we now add to that compilation with our take on the 25 most impactful play-by-play broadcasters over the last 25 years. Again, this list is specific to play-by-play broadcasters, so you won't find analysts such as Charles Barkley or John Madden here. (That will be a separate list, coming soon.)
The list below is entirely subjective. Let me repeat that again: It is subjective. It is also not ranked. The value set I used was calling events featuring mass audiences and the professionalism, preparation and (my subjective) quality of a broadcaster.
There are a near-infinite amount of great local play-by-play voices working today such as Merrill Reese, Gary Cohen, Eric Collins and Jason Benetti (and some who have passed over the last 25 years, including Harry Kalas), and they have had massive impact on their fan bases. But when I thought of the word 'impact,' I went for a broad audience. I also limited announcers who work primarily outside of the United States because I have not heard enough of them. (The great Canadian hockey announcer Bob Cole and English football commentator Martin Tyler would fit here.) Jim Durham, a brilliant NBA game-caller who served as ESPN Radio's lead play-by-play commentator for both the regular season and NBA Finals and was so good with Dr. Jack Ramsay and then Hubie Brown, just missed out. I look at Greg Gumbel as more impactful as a studio host.
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I think it's important to have a separate paragraph to honor Vin Scully. The poet of summer, a master sports painter with an endless supply of stories, Scully is arguably the most beloved media figure in baseball history. He worked locally on Dodgers broadcasts during our 21st century time frame so that's why I did not include him below, though those with access to Dodgers games were treated to someone who remained at the top of his profession. Scully died at age 94 in 2022, and no sports broadcaster in our lifetimes will have a similar impact.
Michael Cole and Jim Ross also get a mention here. Yes, pro wrestling is not a sport; it is scripted athletic entertainment. But Cole and Ross fall under the aegis of play-by-play broadcasters for me and they delivered with verve and passion for their audience. Think about how many millions of people have heard their wrestling calls since 2000 between WWE/WWF, WCW, New Japan Pro Wrestling and AEW.
Some new-school fans might suggest Brandon Gaudin, the voice of Madden NFL for EA Sports, as an impactful broadcaster. That is an interesting thought. One of the toughest calls was to figure out where (or if) to rank some of the all-time greats who only worked a couple of years after 2000. That eliminated (for me) broadcasters such as Keith Jackson, who would easily make my list of all-time play by play voices. Ultimately, we were working with just 25 names, so talented broadcasters such as Adam Amin, Brian Anderson, Michael Grady, Tom Hammond, Dave Pasch, Jon Sciambi and Gary Thorne would be deserving on other lists. Dick Stockton also deserves a similar shoutout here. The hope is that if I did this list again in 2050 (or even 2030), we would see far more women and broadcasters of color on the list at the national level because of their play-by-play impact over the next 25 years.
Below, my choices, listed in alphabetical order (and when you're done reading my list, have your say in this reader poll):
Kenny Albert
Years Active: 2000-
You might not immediately think of Albert given some of the other names on this list, but his versatility at the national level is astounding. Albert estimates he has called close to 1,500 nationally televised games during his career and his high-profile moments since 2000 include calling Alex Ovechkin's 895th career NHL goal, and Jose Bautista's epic bat flip following his go-ahead, three-run homer in Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series. Last June marked the third time Albert served as the lead broadcaster for a Stanley Cup Final.
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Marv Albert
Years Active: 2000-2022
His move from NBC to TNT Sports in 2002 solidified the network's NBA coverage, giving the company a marquee voice. Albert's ability to work with his partners, using humor and sarcasm, set the standard for others to follow when it came to in-game chemistry. Yes, he wasn't the same broadcaster at the end of the run, but he made Turner's NBA games feel big for most of his time there.
Joe Buck
Years Active: 2000-
It's been great to see Buck get increased recognition over the past decade. His resume is spectacular as far as impactful events. He was the lead NFL play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports for nearly three decades, including calling Super Bowls XXXIX, XLII, XLV, XLVIII, LI and LIV and 18 NFC Championships. Buck called 22 World Series for Fox from 2000 to 2021, including the Cubs' first World Series win since 1908. He has, of recent vintage, solidified ESPN's 'Monday Night Football' booth with longtime partner Troy Aikman.
Mike Breen
Years active: 2000-
Breen's voice has been the soundtrack for multiple generations of NBA fans. Here is an astounding figure — he just called his 20th straight NBA Finals, the most any play-by-play voice has done consecutively. Breen has had so many iconic calls ('BANG!') over the years but perhaps his most memorable one is the 'Blocked by James' call from Game 7 of the 2016 finals.
Lisa Byington
Years active: 2007-
Byington made broadcasting history in 2021 by becoming the first female full-time play-by-play broadcaster for a major men's professional sports team, the Milwaukee Bucks. This kind of ceiling-breaking has real impact and we have seen other women hired since to call major men's pro sports teams. Four years earlier she became the first female play-by-play voice for a football game on BTN. Along with the Bucks, Byington calls games for the WNBA's Chicago Sky and works for CBS as a March Madness voice.
Andrés Cantor
Years Active: 2000-
Last April officially marked Cantor's 25th year with Telemundo, and his passionate run has influenced soccer fans in America in two languages. Of course, there is the iconic 'GOOOOL!' call that made him cross over into popular culture, but his resume is stacked with so many events, including World Cups, Olympic soccer and qualifiers. Listen to his call of Argentina winning the World Cup final. Or Carli Lloyd's hat trick at the 2015 World Cup.
Ian Darke
Years Active: 2000-
ESPN bringing Darke in to call the 2010 World Cup proved to be one of the most incisive moves for soccer broadcasting in the U.S. His calls of U.S. national team games — and World Cup matches — gave those telecasts real gravitas. No one blinks anymore if you hear a British accent calling games on an American network. Darke's signature moment was his call on ESPN of Landon Donovan's winning goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup group stage.
Ian Eagle
Years Active: 2000-
For me, Eagle is the best NBA broadcaster working today and you'll hear him on Amazon Prime Video when the streamer debuts its NBA coverage this fall. He's provided exceptional work as CBS's No. 2 NFL play-by-play announcer, first with Dan Fouts and then with Charles Davis, and as the new lead voice of the network's men's Final Four coverage. He's also had a significant role calling major events for Westwood One Sports as well as the YES Network (for the Nets).
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Mike Emrick
Years Active: 2000-2020
No sports broadcaster ever did frantic better than 'Doc' Emrick, which made him perfect for a sport played at top speed. He called an estimated 3,750 professional and Olympic hockey games, 22 Stanley Cup Finals and 45 Stanley Cup postseason Game 7s during his career and served as he lead announcer for the NHL on Versus and the NHL on NBC from 2005 to 2020. Emrick also called the most-watched hockey game in 40 years — the 2010 Vancouver Olympics gold medal game between the USA and Canada which drew 27.6 million viewers.
Dick Enberg
Years Active: 2000-2016
Oh my! One of the all-time great sports broadcasting voices, Enberg worked for CBS from 2000 to 2014 on a variety of sports, most notably the NFL, college basketball and US Open tennis coverage. He helped give ESPN's tennis coverage gravitas when he served as a play-by-play announcer for the majors for a couple of years. He concluded his career by calling his hometown San Diego Padres for seven seasons through 2016.
Chris Fowler
Years Active: 2000-
Fowler has called every college football national championship since 2015 and that alone would put him on this list given where college football sits in the public consciousness. He is currently ESPN's lead voice for its most important college football game each week and prior to his game calling, he helped build the sport's most iconic studio show ('College GameDay'). Personally, I think Fowler's best sport is tennis, where he has developed into an exceptional game-caller since vaulting into ESPN's No. 1 for majors early in the 2010s.
Kevin Harlan
Years Active: 2000-
A broadcaster with such versatility that sports fans have experienced him in multiple ways, from his memorable NBA calls ('LeBron James, with no regard for human life!') with Turner Sports, to his NFL work for CBS to calling more Super Bowls on the radio than any other broadcaster in history, to his NCAA Tournament work. His play-by-play call of a fan on the field during a 'Monday Night Football' Rams-49ers game in 2016 is one of the great broadcaster moments of this century.
Gus Johnson
Years Active: 2000-
Johnson is an excitement machine who, in the manner of Brent Musburger, has an instinctive ability to get you excited about what's in front of you. He's been gone from the NCAA Tournament for awhile now but Johnson called March Madness for CBS from 1996 to 2011 and was the perfect announcer for that tournament's last-second, one-and-done paradigm. He had a brief spell of being Fox's lead broadcaster for international soccer. Since 2011, he's been Fox's lead on its college football coverage (he and Joel Klatt call the biggest game in the noon ET window), which makes him the voice of massive games each year including Ohio State-Michigan. He also leads Fox's college basketball coverage.
Mike Joy
Years Active: 2000-
Joy has been the voice of Fox's NASCAR's television coverage for multiple generations of racing fans and is one of the faces of America's biggest race each year — the Daytona 500. Joy has been on the mic for many memorable NASCAR moments including the 2001 Cracker Barrel 500 at Atlalanta when NASCAR rookie Kevin Harvick, driving as Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s replacement driver for Richard Childress Racing, held off Jeff Gordon for victory.
Jim Lampley
Years Active: 2000-
The voice of HBO's boxing coverage and the soundtrack for so many big moments in the ring. His 2000s work included the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin, Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales and Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward battles.
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Verne Lundquist
Years Active: 2000-2024
The soundtrack for so many iconic sports moments, from Jack Nicklaus' 17th-hole birdie putt at the 1986 Masters ('Yes, sir!') to Tiger Woods' famed chip at No. 16 at the 2005 Masters ('In your life, have you seen anything like that?!') to Auburn's kick-six in the 2013 Iron Bowl ('An answered prayer!'). He finally got to lead a package when CBS offered Lundquist the play-by-play role for SEC football in 2000. His voice helped usher in the SEC's explosion nationally, and it changed how sports fans saw him, too.
Sean McDonough
Years Active: 2000-
He might be the most underrated national broadcaster, given you forget how many sports he's called — and how many amazing moments we have experienced through his voice. The last 25 years have included a six-overtime basketball game in 2009 between UConn and Syracuse; the 2015 Michigan State-Michigan college football game, and the remarkable Canada-U.S. 4 Nations Face-Off final from this year. McDonough is ESPN's lead NHL game-caller today and still has a major role in college football. He also was the lead game-caller for 'Monday Night Football' from 2016 to 2018.
Jon Miller
Years Active: 2000-
Now the voice of the San Francisco Giants regionally, Miller was the lead voice of ESPN's 'Sunday Night Baseball' (mostly working with Joe Morgan) for 21 seasons, including from 2000 to 2010. During his tenure at ESPN, he broadcast 13 consecutive World Series on ESPN Radio, including from 2000 to 2010. His work nationally was exceptional, and he was so good that he muted some of Morgan's get-off-my-lawn tendencies.
Beth Mowins
Years Active: 2000-
A pioneering career who opened the door for other women to call play-by-play in men's sports, her call of the Chargers and Broncos during the 2017 NFL season was the first time in 30 years that a woman was a play-by-play announcer for a regular-season NFL game. In 2021 Mowins became the first woman to call an NBA game on ESPN. She began calling college football for ESPN in 2005 and has been the voice of the Women's College World Series for 31 years. Mowins helped build women's college basketball at ESPN as a broadcast entity and called the Women's Final Four in 2016.
Brent Musberger
2000-2022
You are looking live at someone whose voice called signature event after signature event for ESPN in the early part of this 21st century window. Musburger worked for ESPN through 2017 and called seven BCS National Championship games, the Little League World Series, a multitude of NBA games, including the NBA Finals for ESPN Radio, and many other assignments. His play-by-play career ended in 2022 after four years of serving as the radio voice of the NFL's Raiders.
Jim Nantz
Years Active: 2000-
As the sports face of CBS, Nantz has been the soundtrack for multiple generations of sports fans for the NFL, college basketball and PGA Golf. Last year he called his 500th NFL game, the first CBS broadcaster to reach that mark as an NFL play-by-play announcer. All seven of his Super Bowl calls have come since 2000. His end calls at The Masters will stand the test of time for a sport that caters to history.
Brad Nessler
Years Active: 2000-
Despite his great pipes and an on-air manner that feels like a comfortable sofa, it might surprise you how many major properties Nessler has called since 2000. A sampling: He replaced Lundquist in 2017 to become the national voice of SEC Football on CBS. He's done the NCAA Tournament for CBS, Saturday primetime college football for ESPN and ABC; major college basketball games for ESPN; and the NFL Network's 'Thursday Night Football.' He even called the the 2003 NBA Finals for ABC/ESPN alongside Bill Walton and Tom Tolbert.
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Dan Shulman
Years Active: 2000-
ESPN has curtailed its baseball coverage in recent years, but Shulman was ESPN's main MLB voice for much of the last 25 years, including the voice of the World Series on ESPN Radio from 2011 to 2022 and the lead gamecaller for ESPN's 'Sunday Night Baseball' from 2011 t0 2017, working with Bobby Valentine, Orel Hershiser, Terry Francona, Curt Schilling, John Kruk, Jessica Mendoza and Aaron Boone. He's also spent the past 25 years calling college basketball for ESPN, pairing famously with Dick Vitale for many North Carolina-Duke games. Up north, Shulman is the main television voice for Sportsnet's coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Joe Tessitore
Years Active: 2000-
Tessitore has called so many fourth-quarter comebacks and crazy last-second endings that a name developed for a close game when he was on the mic — 'The Tess Effect.' He was the voice of 'Monday Night Football' during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. In my opinion: Tessitore, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe formed one of the best three-person teams in college football broadcasting history.
Mike Tirico
Years Active: 2000-
One of the most impressive feats for a top play-by-play broadcaster is the ability to sustain a high level of excellence no matter the sport. Tirico just completed his third season as the play-by-play voice of NBC's 'Sunday Night Football' and was recently tagged to lead NBC's upcoming NBA game coverage. (This is separate from his role as the company's preeminent sports host). During his 25 years at ESPN, Tirico called 'Monday Night Football' (2016-2025), The Masters, NBA, college football, college basketball, the World Cup, and tennis' U.S. Open and Wimbledon.
Now that you've seen the full list of 25, have your say: Vote on your top 5 and your No. 1 overall favorite here.
(Illustration: Kelsea Peterson / The Athletic; Chris Condon / Getty, Mitchell Lef / Getty, Ric Tapia / Getty, Porter Binks / Getty)
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