Jason Benetti

Jason Benetti
Benetti at Guaranteed Rate Field in 2017
Born	(1983-09-09) September 9, 1983 (age 41) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	Syracuse University Wake Forest University
Sports commentary career
Team(s)	Chicago White Sox (2016–2023) Detroit Tigers (2024–present)
Genre	Play-by-play
Sport	Major League Baseball
Employer	ESPN (2011–2022) NBC Sports Chicago (2016–2023) NBC Sports (2021–2022)[a] Fox Sports (2022–present) Detroit Tigers (2024–present)

Jason Benetti (born September 9, 1983)^[1] is an American sportscaster. He is the primary television play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball on Bally Sports Detroit.^[2]

From 2016 to 2023, Benetti was the lead play-by-play announcer for Chicago White Sox of MLB, and served as an alternate play-by-play announcer for Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association, on NBC Sports Chicago.^[3] Now primarily contracted with Fox Sports nationally, Benetti was formerly the main announcer for ESPN's alternate "StatCast" telecasts, and additionally has worked for NBC Sports, Westwood One, and Time Warner covering football, baseball, lacrosse, hockey, and basketball.

Early life and education

Benetti was born ten weeks prematurely at the University of Chicago Hospital, where he remained for the first three months of his life.^[1] While in intensive care, Benetti developed a respiratory illness that deprived his blood of oxygen; this may have caused his cerebral palsy, which was diagnosed when he was a toddler. Benetti underwent years of physical therapy and two surgeries to improve his ability to walk.^[4][5]

Benetti grew up a few miles south of Chicago in Homewood, Illinois,^[6] and graduated from the Homewood-Flossmoor High School in 2001. He ran the school's NCAA tournament pool and joined the school's radio station, WHFH (88.5) as a regular disc jockey and play-by-play announcer for Vikings sports coverage.^[7] Benetti's cerebral palsy prevented him from playing tuba during marching band season. Not wanting to exclude him, the band director asked him to serve as the halftime broadcaster for their marching events.^[8]

Benetti attended S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and graduated in 2005 with bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism, economics and psychology.^[9][10] At Syracuse, he worked at WAER-FM and WJPZ FM where he called Syracuse Orange lacrosse and women's basketball.^[11]

After graduating from Syracuse, Benetti enrolled at Wake Forest University School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2011.^[10]

Career

During law school, Benetti acted as the voice of High Point Panthers basketball games, Syracuse Chiefs baseball games,^[9] and high school sports for Time Warner Cable Sports Channel.^[4][12] He also worked in roles with Fox Sports 1, Westwood One, Big East Conference, IMG College, Salem Avalanche, and DePaul University.^[10]

ESPN (2011–2022)

Benetti served as an intern for Chicago sports radio station WSCR. In 2011 Benetti joined ESPN,^[8] where his broadcasting career would move him into television, despite his childhood preference for radio-only broadcasting.^[4] Benetti would call select college basketball games for the ESPN3 online service, and then move on to ESPN2 and ESPNU. In 2013 Benetti called his first football game for ESPN's syndicated American Athletic Conference package.

In 2020, Benetti signed a multi-year extension with ESPN, and during that year called KBO League games remotely for the network due to the COVID-19-induced delay of the 2020 Major League Baseball season.^[13]

Chicago White Sox (2016–2023)

Beginning with the 2016 season, Benetti replaced recently retired Hall of fame broadcaster Ken Harrelson as the television play-by-play announcer for select Chicago White Sox home and road games, where he would be paired with Steve Stone.^[6][5] In May 2017, the White Sox announced Benetti would take over full-time play-by-play duties in 2019 upon Harrelson's retirement. During their time together, Benetti and Stone were highly regarded by fans and were regularly ranked among the league's best broadcasting duos.^[14] After the 2023 season, Benetti left the White Sox, citing a disrespectful remark from the team's chief revenue and marketing officer Brooks Boyer as an example of his strained relationship with the team's front office.^[15] In the first year after Benetti's departure, the White Sox booth plummeted from 6th to 30th in booth rankings conducted by Awful Announcing.^[16]

Detroit Tigers (2024–present)

In November 2023, Benetti was named as the principal play-by-play announcer for Detroit Tigers telecasts on Bally Sports Detroit beginning in the 2024 season. Though he appears on Bally telecasts, Benetti is directly employed by the Tigers.^[17][18] In Benetti's first season with the Tigers, the broadcast booth jumped from being ranked 30th the year prior to being ranked 10th in 2024 in the annual ranking conducted by Awful Announcing.^[19]

Benetti also co-hosts the interview-style podcast Have A Seat with Tigers radio announcer Dan Dickerson.^[20]

NBC (2021–2022)

In 2021, Benetti was named as play-by-play announcer for NBC's coverage of baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[21][22]

On April 26, 2022, it was reported that Benetti would serve as the lead play-by-play announcer for the new NBC Sports-produced MLB Sunday Leadoff games for Peacock, joined by rotating analysts representing the teams in each game.^[23]

Fox (2022–present)

In August 2022, Benetti moved to Fox Sports and does play by play for Fox's coverage of college football and basketball, as well as Major League Baseball.^[24][25] Even after the move, he continued calling games for NBC Sports Chicago.^[26]

In week 17 and 18 of the 2022 NFL season, Benetti would work his first games for the NFL on Fox, doing play-by-play as the Arizona Cardinals visited the Atlanta Falcons to start, followed by the Carolina Panthers against the New Orleans Saints in week 18 and filled-in for Brandon Gaudin, who filled-in for Wayne Larrivee on the Green Bay Packers radio network.^[27]

Personal life

Benetti works with the CHAT ("Communication Hope through Assistive Technology") Camp at Syracuse University's Burton Blatt Institute.^[10][28] At Syracuse's Newhouse School, he taught sports broadcasting as an adjunct professor.^[10]

Benetti is part of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation's "Just Say Hi" campaign.^[6]

Notes

1. Benetti was hired to cover the 2020 Summer Olympics for baseball, and he was later hired to cover Major League Baseball games for their streaming service Peacock under the name MLB Sunday Leadoff

References

1. Skrbina, Paul. "The fit is great". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 2, 2022. ...1983...Sept. 9, Jason Benetti was born...
2. Petzold, Evan (November 9, 2023). "Jason Benetti signs multi-year contract with Detroit Tigers as TV play-by-play broadcaster". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
3. "Jason Benetti Profile". Archived from the original on April 7, 2014.
4. "Jason Benetti Is Voice of Hope in Face of Cerebral Palsy". AOL News. Archived from the original on March 17, 2013.
5. "New 32-year-old White Sox broadcaster manages cerebral palsy". USA TODAY. AP. April 8, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
6. Van Schouwen, Daryl (June 24, 2016). "White Sox adding Jason Benetti to play-by-play team". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
7. Maese, Rick (July 5, 2013). "Jason Benetti, Syracuse Chiefs announcer, refuses to let cerebral palsy affect his game". Washington Post.
8. "Disability is no impediment for ESPN play-by-play man Benetti". ESPN. January 22, 2014.
9. Blum, Sam (April 22, 2014). "His calling: Jason Benetti uses disability as motivation to achieve career success in announcing". The Daily Orange. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
10. "For the People Speaker Series: Jason Benetti". Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
11. Muoio, William (February 18, 2016). "Newhouse Alumnus Tapped to Call Hometown Team, Chicago White Sox, for ESPN". Syracuse University News. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
12. Leo, Tom (October 27, 2010). "The Voice of Hustle: Jason Benetti stacks up the sports assignments and attends law school despite a mild case of cerebral palsy". The Post Standard. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
13. Ufnowski, Amy (October 1, 2020). "Play-by-play voice Jason Benetti has signed a multi-year extension; he reflects on his career and his colleagues cheer the news". ESPN.
14. "CHSN".
15. Agrest, Jeff (November 16, 2023). "Jason Benetti's departure from White Sox hastened by contentious relationship with exec Brooks Boyer". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 17, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
16. "White Sox broadcast team ranks dead last in midseason fan poll". July 16, 2024.
17. "Why new Tigers play-by-play voice Jason Benetti left his hometown White Sox for Detroit". The Detroit News. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
18. Masur, Andy (May 19, 2022). "Anatomy Of A Broadcaster: Jason Benetti". Barrett Sports Media. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
19. "Tigers rocket up MLB broadcaster rankings thanks to 'wonderful' Jason Benetti". July 17, 2024.
20. Introducing Have a Seat with Jason Benetti & Dan Dickerson Detroit Tigers Official YouTube Channel
21. Rosenthal, Phil (June 3, 2021). "Jason Benetti is set to call Olympic baseball for NBC this summer, the latest broadcasting gig for the Chicago White Sox announcer". Chicago Tribune.
22. Enslin, Rob (July 20, 2021). "Orange Voices of the Summer Olympics". Syracuse University. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
23. Rigdon, Jay (April 26, 2022). "Jason Benetti will lead Peacock's Sunday MLB broadcasts with a rotating booth of analysts". Awful Announcing.
24. Deitsch, Richard. "Jason Benetti on why he's leaving ESPN and his 'amazing' move to the Fox booth". The Athletic. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
25. Casselberry, Ian (August 30, 2022). "Jason Benetti Moving to Fox For College Football is His Gain and ESPN's Loss". Barrett Media. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
26. Agrest, Jeff (August 4, 2022). "Jason Benetti's move to Fox indicative of ESPN's problem in booth". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
27. Bucholtz, Andrew (December 28, 2022). "Jason Benetti will call his first NFL on Fox game Sunday". Awful Announcing. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
28. Benetti, Jason. "Sports announcer: 'The way I look is a small part of who I am'". CNN.

Preceded by Bob Costas (in 2000)

Lead play-by-play announcer, Major League Baseball on NBC 2022

Succeeded by Brendan Burke