There’s been a whole lot of turnover in Chicago sports, as far as play-by-play announcers are concerned.
That continued Thursday, as The Athletic reported that the Chicago Blackhawks had removed Chis Vosters as the play-by-play voice for their television broadcasts and replaced him with veteran NHL broadcaster Rick Ball.
Here’s more from Scott Powers on the decision to move on from Vosters:
The Blackhawks hoped Vosters would grow into the job and fans would grow to love him. But after two seasons of neither happening at the Blackhawks’ preferred pace, the organization decided to reassess.
That evaluation led to the Blackhawks’ decision Thursday to remove Vosters and replace him with NHL veteran broadcaster Rick Ball as their new TV play-by-play broadcaster.
“One thing we know is that our fans value a deep hockey knowledge and experience, and it was important to us that our broadcast reflect those values,” said Blackhawks president of business Jaime Faulkner. “Every year after the season concludes, we evaluate our broadcast talent in the booth for both radio and TV, and also in-studio, to determine if it is at the level our fans expect and deserve. Based on our own evaluations, as well as feedback from key stakeholders and partners, we felt we need to make a change in this role.
“We knew it would be difficult to replace someone as loved and talented as Pat Foley when we first started the process three years ago. Of everyone we looked at and available at the time, Chris was the clear favorite, and we were convinced we had found our voice. Chris did a tremendous job calling Blackhawks games, and while it’s certainly unfortunate that it didn’t work out with him in the end, we’re confident that Rick is going to help our broadcast reach new heights and we’re excited for him to join the team.”
The Blackhawks’ decision to replace Vosters with Ball likely hinged on the latter’s extensive hockey experience. While Vosters boasts an impressive resume across major sports networks, his tenure as the Blackhawks’ announcer only began in April 2022. Ball, a renowned commentator in Canada (though lesser-known in the US), previously served as a primary play-by-play voice for the Calgary Flames (on TV) and Vancouver Canucks (mostly on radio).
After two seasons, the Blackhawks opted for Ball’s deeper hockey expertise, which is in line with what Faulkner told The Athletic.
“Chris is a tremendous broadcaster with a very bright future ahead of him,” Faulkner said via Powers. “He has a very big voice that lends itself extremely well to being a sports broadcaster. We want to offer our fans a broadcast with deep experience and hockey knowledge. We evaluate things like depth of hockey vocabulary, ability to anticipate the play to use your voice to draw the viewer in, ability to call plays happening with players who don’t have the puck, and knowing that sometimes you don’t say anything at all.”
Ball isn’t new to the hockey broadcast booth. He brings a wealth of experience under his belt — 10 seasons — as the Flames’ primary TV announcer. That’s on top of his previous work with Hockey Night in Canada and calling games for teams like the Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, and even the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
It should be noted that earlier this week, each of the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks joined forces to launch the Chicago Sports Network, which will get off the ground in Oct. 2024, in time for Ball’s first season as the voice of the Windy City’s NHL franchise.
“Rick is an exceptional broadcaster with a resume that includes over 20 years of experience as a hockey announcer,” Faulkner said. “He’s called some of the sport’s biggest games, on its biggest stages, and on one of its most storied broadcasts. He knows this game and its history, and we believe he will take our broadcast to the next level.”
And that broadcast will be on a new joint venture rather than NBC Sports Chicago.
