Bill Raftery would love to call college basketball games for another 10 years

At 82, 84, or however old Bill Raftery is at this point in his career, the iconic college basketball announcer sounds like he found the fountain of youth.

While most networks begin to phase broadcasters out in their 70s, Raftery was promoted to the lead college basketball booth for CBS, calling his first Final Four on television in 2015. And since then, Raftery has continued to excel as an analyst into his 80s, showing no signs of slowing down.

Raftery joined the latest episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast to discuss the NCAA men’s tournament and his iconic career as a college basketball announcer for CBS and Fox. And while it certainly sounds like Raftery is at the top of his game, the veteran college basketball analyst was asked whether he still feels that way.

“I don’t think I’m any different from many, many years ago,” Raftery said. “I just feel very lucky that I’m still doing it. They at the top (CBS and Fox) feel okay with me doing it. When Verne (Lundquist) left, Verne felt it was time. He said to me, ‘You’ll know.’ And I said to him, ‘I think they may know before I know.’”

Bill Raftery said the only thing he doesn’t like about the job is the travel, explaining that it’s not even the labor of travel, it’s the stress of dealing with delays and getting to a new city on time. One thing that has eased the stress of travel for Raftery, however, is networks having analysts all over the country, so he always knows the broadcast can go on without him if his flight is delayed or canceled.

But when asked if he has any sort of timeline for how much longer he wants to continue traveling and being such a prominent voice in college basketball now that he’s 82 years old, Raftery chuckled and claimed he’s actually older than the age that has always been reported.

“I’ve never said my age and people wrote it down and have it wrong,” Raftery said to the claim he’s 82. “I’ve never corrected anybody, but it’s actually comical. I’ve got a couple more on me. You’re the first to ever hear that.”

“I think they’ll tell me,” Raftery said, reiterating he expects CBS to eventually tell him he’s done before deciding to retire on his terms. “But for now, if they’re happy with me, I enjoy the heck out of it. I’d probably be bored to death if I was sitting home. For now, hopefully, they’re happy and it will stay the same for another 10 years.”

Bill Raftery doesn’t sound like someone who is ready to retire anytime soon. College basketball fans are certainly happy to hear him continue, as he remains one of the best and most entertaining analysts in the sport. And regardless of whether he’s 82, 84 or older, hopefully he can continue to be an integral part of March Madness for years to come.