Jason Benetti has been calling Sunday Night Baseball for NBC since March, but his role beyond baseball at the network is still taking shape.
Appearing on the Sports Media Watch Podcast, Benetti revealed that, despite being two months into his role as the face of NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball, the conversation about what else he’ll be calling for the network simply hasn’t happened yet. Getting the baseball package off the ground has been all-consuming.
“We have not discussed packages or anything,” Benetti said, “like football or basketball, is what I know, but I don’t know the rest of it. We’ve been so singularly focused on the baseball thing. I knew I was going to be part of the other sports — it would’ve been very difficult for me to do if it was just baseball — so I know I’m going to be a part of it, but I truly, legitimately have not had the conversation. It’s coming down the pike at some point in the next month, I’d imagine we’ll have the conversation about what it’s going to be.”
When NBC signed Benetti in March to anchor its return to baseball for the first time since 2000, it was widely understood he’d be calling other sports for the network as well. NBC currently holds a sprawling sports portfolio, including Sunday Night Football, Sunday Night Basketball, Big Ten football on Saturday nights, Notre Dame football through 2029, Big Ten, Big East, and Big 12 basketball, and of course, Sunday Night Baseball.
At Fox, Benetti was one of the most versatile play-by-play voices in the industry, regularly calling college football and basketball, as well as occasional NFL games, in addition to his Detroit Tigers duties. He’s already gotten some NBA work in for NBC, calling a playoff game for the network this spring.
The depth of Benetti’s resume makes clear why NBC wanted him for more than one sport. He spent 11 years at ESPN calling college football, college basketball, MLB, and NFL games before joining Fox in 2022 as the No. 2 college football voice alongside Brock Huard and Robert Griffin III, handling Big Ten and Big 12 games as well as college basketball and occasional NFL work. He was also the television voice of the Chicago White Sox from 2016-23 and has been the Tigers’ local voice since 2024.
The full picture of what he’ll be calling for NBC is still being sorted out, but the conversation, by his own account, is coming soon.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.