Jason Robert Benetti (born September 9, 1983) is an American sportscaster. He is the primary television play-by-play announcer for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

FanDuel Sports Network FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) is a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group). The networks carry regional broadcasts of sporting events from various ...

. From 2016 to 2023, Benetti was the lead play-by-play announcer for

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

of MLB, and served as an alternate play-by-play announcer for

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, on

NBC Sports Chicago NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet Chicago) was an American regional sports network that broadcast regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Chicago Chicago metropolitan area, metropolitan area, as well as college sports ...

. Now primarily contracted with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

nationally, Benetti was formerly the main announcer for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's alternate "StatCast" telecasts, and additionally has worked for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

, and

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

covering

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, baseball,

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Early life and education

Benetti was born ten weeks prematurely at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Hospital, where he remained for the first three months of his life. While in intensive care, Benetti developed a respiratory illness that deprived his blood of oxygen; this may have caused his

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

, which was diagnosed when he was a toddler. Benetti underwent years of physical therapy and two surgeries to improve his ability to walk. Benetti grew up a few miles south of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in Homewood, Illinois, 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. 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. Benetti attended S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

and graduated in 2005 with bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism, economics and psychology. At Syracuse, he worked at WAER-FM and WJPZ FM where he called

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East ...

lacrosse and women's basketball. After graduating from Syracuse, Benetti enrolled at Wake Forest University School of Law, where he earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree in 2011.

Career

During law school, Benetti acted as the voice of High Point Panthers basketball games,

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

baseball games, and high school sports for Time Warner Cable Sports Channel. He also worked in roles with

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (branded on-air as FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 airs an array of live sporting events, including Majo ...

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

IMG College Learfield (often stylized as LEARFIELD) is a collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and many of th ...

Salem Avalanche Salem may refer to: Places Canada * Salem, Ontario, various places Germany * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district ** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein Israel * Salem ...

, and

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

ESPN (2011–2022)

Benetti served as an intern for Chicago sports radio station

WSCR WSCR (670 AM radio, AM) – branded 670 The Score – is a Commercial radio, commercial sports radio station, licensed to Chicago, Illinois, which serves the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., WSCR is a clear-channel station wit ...

. In 2011 Benetti joined ESPN, where his broadcasting career would move him into television, despite his childhood preference for radio-only broadcasting. Benetti would call select college basketball games for the

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...

online service, and then move on to

ESPN2 ESPN2 is 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 the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

and

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

. In 2013 Benetti called his first football game for ESPN's syndicated

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

package. In 2020, Benetti signed a multi-year extension with ESPN, and during that year called

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

games remotely for the network due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

-induced delay of the 2020 Major League Baseball season.

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

home and road games, where he would be paired with Steve Stone. 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. 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. In the first year after Benetti's departure, the White Sox booth plummeted from 6th to 30th in booth rankings conducted by Awful Announcing.

Detroit Tigers (2024–present)

In November 2023, Benetti was named as the principal play-by-play announcer for

telecasts on Bally Sports Detroit beginning in the 2024 season. Though he appears on Bally telecasts, Benetti is directly employed by the Tigers. 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. Benetti also co-hosts the interview-style podcast ''Have A Seat'' with Tigers radio announcer Dan Dickerson.

NBC (2021–2022)

In 2021, Benetti was named as play-by-play announcer for NBC's coverage of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. 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 ''MLB Sunday Leadoff'' is the branding used for broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games that primarily are held on Sunday afternoon. It was originally produced by NBC Sports for the streaming service Peacock (streaming service), Peacock ...

'' games for

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

, joined by rotating analysts representing the teams in each game.

Fox (2022–present)

In August 2022, Benetti moved to

and does play by play for Fox's coverage of college football and basketball, as well as Major League Baseball. Even after the move, he continued calling games for NBC Sports Chicago. In week 17 and 18 of the 2022 NFL season, Benetti would work his first games for the

NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and televised on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox broadcast network. ...

, doing play-by-play as the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

visited the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

to start, followed by the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

in week 18 and filled-in for Brandon Gaudin, who filled-in for Wayne Larrivee on the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

radio network.

Personal life

Benetti works with the CHAT ("Communication Hope through Assistive Technology") Camp at Syracuse University's Burton Blatt Institute. At Syracuse's Newhouse School, he taught sports broadcasting as an adjunct professor. Benetti is part of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation's "Just Say Hi" campaign.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benetti, Jason 1983 births Living people American people of Italian descent American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Chicago Bulls announcers Chicago White Sox announcers College baseball announcers in the United States College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers College hockey announcers in the United States Detroit Tigers announcers High school football announcers in the United States Homewood-Flossmoor High School alumni Lacrosse announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters NFL announcers People with cerebral palsy S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Television personalities from Chicago Volleyball commentators Wake Forest University School of Law alumni Women's college basketball announcers in the United States