Brian Kenny (born October 18, 1963 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) is a studio host for

MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox C ...

and a boxing play-by-play announcer for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

and

DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...

. The television face of Sabermetrics and baseball analytics, he is the host of the weekday program ''MLB Now'', known as “the show for the thinking fan". He previously worked for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, where he won three Emmys, and had his own show on ESPN Radio named ''The Brian Kenny Show''. He is also the host of the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York.

Broadcasting career

Kenny graduated magna cum laude from New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York in 1985. He also attended St. John's University from 1981-1982. In college, Kenny began his broadcasting career as a reporter for "LI News Tonight," New York Tech’s long-time daily news program. In May 1985, he joined WLIG, TV 55 Long Island as a reporter. He was named the station’s Sports Director in September in 1985, beginning his sportscasting career. In August 1986, Kenny was named Sports Director at WTZA-TV (later

WRNN-TV WRNN-TV (channel 48) is a television station licensed to New Rochelle, New York, United States, serving the New York City area as an affiliate of ShopHQ. It serves as the flagship station of Rye Brook–based WRNN-TV Associates; its headquarter ...

) in Kingston, NY. He hosted a late-evening talk show “Sports Line Live,” and called play-by-play for

Marist Red Foxes men's basketball : ''For information on all Marist College sports, see Marist Red Foxes'' The Marist Red Foxes men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. The school's team currently com ...

and

Hudson Valley Renegades Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson R ...

minor league baseball. He would remain at the station until 1997, winning 11 New York State Broadcasters Awards and 6 Associated Press Awards for his coverage of local sports.

ESPN

After joining

in 1997, Kenny anchored the 6:00 pm SportsCenter, and was the host of ''

Friday Night Fights The cable television network ESPN has occasionally broadcast boxing events over the majority of its history, as part of several arrangements, including contracts with specific promotions and consortiums such as Golden Boy Promotions, Premier Box ...

'' on ESPN2. On Friday Night Fights, he was known for his heated debates with some of the best boxers in the world, particularly

Floyd Mayweather Floyd may refer to: As a name * Floyd (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Floyd (surname), a list of people and fictional characters Places in the United States * Floyd, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Floyd, I ...

. He also hosted

Baseball Tonight ''Baseball Tonight'' (stylized as ''Baseball Tonight presented by Chevrolet'' for sponsorship reasons) is an American television program that airs on ESPN. The show, which covers the day's Major League Baseball action, has been on the air since ...

,''

The Hot List ''The Hot List'' (also styled ''HotList'') was a news, talk and analysis television show and also the flagship program on ESPNEWS. Since its debut in January 2004, the program aired Monday through Friday from 3-6pm ET. About the show The show ori ...

'' on

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

, plus "Classic Ringside" and '' The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...'' on

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally la ...

. In 2005, he hosted a special series called ''Ringside''. It runs three to six hours long an episode and featured on each episode one great boxer. Kenny appears as himself in the 2006 film '' Rocky Balboa'' and in the 2007 film ''

Resurrecting the Champ ''Resurrecting the Champ'' is a 2007 American sports drama film directed by Rod Lurie and written by Michael Bortman and Allison Burnett, based on a ''Los Angeles Times Magazine'' article entitled "Resurrecting the Champ" by J. R. Moehringer. Th ...

,'' and also served with fellow ESPN personality John Saunders as the "announcing team" for a home demolition during an episode of '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' that aired on November 2, 2008. (The episode involved a project in which the ''Extreme Makeover'' team built a new home and gym for a family that operated a youth boxing gym in

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

). Prior to hosting ''The Brian Kenny Show'' on ESPN Radio, he co-hosted ''Kellerman and Kenny'' with

Max Kellerman Max Kellerman (born August 6, 1973) is an American sports television personality and boxing commentator. He is the host of ''This Just In with Max Kellerman'' and the co-host of ''Keyshawn, JWill and Max'' on ESPN Radio. He previously was a co-ho ...

on ESPN Radio in New York City.

MLB Network

Kenny announced on the August 31, 2011 edition of ''The Brian Kenny Show'' that he was leaving ESPN to become an anchor with

. His final show was on September 2, 2011, with the 6:00 p.m. edition of SportsCenter alongside

Jonathan Coachman Jonathan William Coachman (born August 12, 1973), also known as "The Coach", is an American sports analyst and former professional wrestling personality currently signed to WWE and XFL. Early life Before embarking on an announcing career in p ...

. Kenny made his debut on

MLB Tonight ''MLB Tonight'' is the signature program that airs on MLB Network and is simulcast on MLB Network Radio. The show offers complete coverage of all Major League Baseball games from 6pm ET – 1am ET during the regular season, and gives news from al ...

on September 19, 2011. Since 2013, Kenny has been the host of ''MLB Now'' on MLB Network. Kenny also appears on MLB Network's flagship program "

", the offseason countdown series "Top 10 Right Now!," and on-site coverage of the All-Star Game and World Series. Since 2017, Kenny has served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction. His first book, ''Ahead of the Curve: Inside the Baseball Revolution'', was published in 2016 by Simon and Schuster and won the National SABR Research Award in 2017.

Other work and appearances

Kenny was previously the boxing host and blow-by-blow announcer for Showtime Championship Boxing,

, and

Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...

. He also hosted "The Brian Kenny Show" on

NBC Sports Radio NBC Sports Radio was a sports radio network that debuted on September 4, 2012. The network content was produced by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and distributed by Westwood One, which is the corporate successor to the remains of ...

. Kenny appeared as himself in the movie " Rocky Balboa" (2006) and "

" (2007), while appearing in the television shows " The Dead Zone" (2003) and "

Brockmire ''Brockmire'' is an American sitcom that premiered on April 5, 2017 on IFC. The show stars Hank Azaria, Amanda Peet, and Tyrel Jackson Williams, with J. K. Simmons guest starring in the third season. Azaria plays a baseball play-by-play announc ...

" (2016). Kenny appeared as himself in “

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

” “

Fight Night Champion ''Fight Night Champion'' is a boxing video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It is the fifth and last entry in the ''Fight Night'' series and was released in March 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game takes ...

”

Awards

Brian won a National Sports Emmy for ''

'' in 2003, was the 2004

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

Media Willy of the Year and the recipient of the 2005

Sam Taub Award The Sam Taub Award is a yearly award presented by the Boxing Writers Association of America for Excellence in Broadcasting Journalism. The award is named after Sam Taub, a journalist and radio broadcaster who is best known for his work covering box ...

for excellence in boxing broadcasting.

Personal life

Kenny is married to Nicole Jacqueline Desy, and they have five children together.

Works

References

External links

MLB Network Bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenny, Brian 1963 births Living people American sports radio personalities American television sports announcers St. John's University (New York City) alumni Boxing commentators Major League Baseball broadcasters MLB Network personalities New York Institute of Technology alumni