University News

Thom Brennaman, photo courtesy of The Cincinnati Reds
[Download Print-Quality Image]

Sports Broadcaster Thom Brennaman at WIU November 13

October 25, 2007

Share |
Printer friendly version

MACOMB, IL - - Fox Sports and Big Ten Network play-by-play announcer Thom Brennaman will present "Migration and Sports: A Broadcaster's Perspective" on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at Western Illinois University.

The 7:30 p.m. presentation in the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall (Simpkins Hall), which is open free to the public, is part of Western's celebration of National Geography Awareness Week Nov. 11-17.

Included in his talk will be his view about how the shifting population in the United States from the Frostbelt to the Sunbelt has affected sports fan bases and the migration of international sports players into "America's pastime," baseball.

Brennaman was hired by Fox Sports in 1994, the year it was formed, to call National Football League and Major League Baseball telecasts. He continues to call NFL Sunday coverage, and his MLB experience includes regular season Division and League Championship Series games.

At the college level, he was the play-by-play announcer for the January 2007 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game between Ohio State and Florida. He also led Fox's broadcast coverage of the Cotton Bowl from 2000-2006, and he has broadcast basketball games for two years for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Since the start of the 2007 baseball season, Brennaman had been providing both radio and television broadcasts for the Cincinnati Reds with his well-known father, Marty Brennaman, a 2000 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.

Previously, he was the first television and radio voice for the Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2006), serving the team as director of broadcasting; and he had worked for the Chicago Cubs with WGN radio and television (1990-1995).

Brennaman's visit is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and its geography department and the College of Fine Arts and Communication and its broadcasting department.

For more information about the Nov. 13 presentation, contact the geography department at 309/298-1648 or broadcasting at 309/298-2888.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing