In what can only be described as unprecedented, both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Chicago Bulls made changes to their announcing teams within minutes of each other.
First, the Blackhawks announced that current TV voice Dan Kelly will not return to the booth meaning the possible return of long time voice Pat Foley who has spent the last few seasons calling the Chicago Wolves. When the Blackhawks hired John McDonough as its new President, many had speculated that Foley would eventually return. This now appears to be the case. Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune has the story. Roman Modrowski of the Chicago Sun-Times says with Kelly gone, all signs point to Foley returning. And with the Blackhawks putting all of their games on TV and going to WGN-TV next season, having Foley calling the games would bring back some old time fans who may have stopped watching hockey in Chicago. For his part, Foley has not confirmed whether he has been contacted by the Blackhawks.
And the Chicago Bulls also made a splash today by moving out WGN-TV voice Wayne Larrivee and Comcast SportsNet play caller Tom Dore and replacing them with Neil Funk from the radio side. And long time analyst Johnny “Red” Kerr will move to the studio from the booth. Ed Sherman has the story on this as well. Very rarely do we see two teams in the same city making broadcasting changes so close to one another.
We’ll continue to monitor the story.
