Greg Papa on NBC Sports Bay Area.

Greg Papa had been the Oakland Raiders’ radio voice since 1997 and was quite popular with many fans, but the team replaced him with Brent Musburger earlier this year, with Papa saying that was thanks to a grudge owner Mark Davis held over Papa’s 2015 criticisms of Davis interviewing long-time Raiders’ adversary Mike Shanahan for the head coaching job. Well, Papa’s a prominent Bay Area sports media figure on a lot of other levels, with his work as a regular host on 95.7 The Game with Bonta Hill and his TV gigs hosting The Happy Hour discussion show and plenty of pre- and post-game Warriors coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area, and he’s now taking his talents to the Raiders’ Bay Area NFL rival.

As per Steve Berman of The Athletic, Papa will anchor NBC Sports Bay Area’s pre- and post-game shows for the San Francisco 49ers this year, replacing Dave Feldman and working alongside Matt Maiocco and new addition (and former 49er safety) Donte Whitner. And reactions from Raider fans have ranged from support for Papa to criticism of him covering a rival team:

We’ll see how this goes for Papa, and if it leads to him doing more work on 49er broadcasts down the road. But it’s certainly interesting to see him going from covering one Bay Area NFL franchise to covering the other one.

[The Athletic]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.