Former Alabama play-by-play man Eli Gold lands new job

It did not take Eli Gold long to find a new job.

It was reported on Wednesday that Gold, the radio voice of Alabama on the Crimson Tide Sports Network since 1988, would not return to that job in 2024. On Friday, though, it was announced that Gold found a new job in football. He will be the lead announcer for the Arena Football League’s Nashville Kats.

Tamara Dadd Alan, the Kats’ CEO and founding partner, expressed excitement with the addition of Gold.

“It is an honor and privilege for the Kats to have the legendary Eli Gold be our voice and be part of our franchise in a variety of ways,” Alan said in a release on the team website. “We are not only excited to hear him on the calls of our games, but also how he will become a leader in the community as part of our franchise outreach.”

Gold had similar feelings.

“I am so very excited about returning to the Arena Football League as the voice of the Nashville Kats,” Gold said, per Mike Organ, The Tennessean. “I say returning, because I was the TV voice of the league back when the games were on NBC and TNN, and I came to love the product.”

The Arena Football League season will launch in April. This will be the third incarnation of the league. It originally ran from 1987-2008. There was no 2009 season, but the league relaunched in 2010 and remained in operation until 2019. In 2023, it was announced that the league would re-open in 2024.

This is also the third different Nashville Kats franchise. The first ran from 1997-2001 and became the Georgia Force. The Kats relaunched from 2005-2007 before folding.

[NashvilleKats.com, TheTennessean.com]