Tag: broadcasts

Legendary Houston broadcaster Bill Worrell to step down after season

Worrell’s final game as a play-by-play broadcaster for the Rockets will be Friday’s 2020-21 home finale versus the Los Angeles Clippers.

After working nearly 40 years as a play-by-play broadcaster for Houston Rockets games on TV, Bill Worrell will retire from the role after Friday’s regular-season home finale versus the Los Angeles Clippers.

According to the team’s announcement, Worrell will remain a “special contributor” for television partner AT&T SportsNet Southwest next season, allowing him to reach an even 40 years before fully retiring.

Worrell, who turns 77 years old next month, had begun transitioning out of the role in recent seasons. In 2016, Worrell began working only home broadcasts, with radio broadcaster Craig Ackerman taking over television play-by-play duties in road games alongside analyst Matt Bullard. When Ackerman is unavailable for road radio broadcasts, home public address (PA) announcer Matt Thomas takes his place.

Ackerman and Thomas each tweeted their reaction to Tuesday’s news:

AT&T SportsNet Southwest has yet to announce its plans moving forward. If Ackerman is promoted to full-time television broadcasting, as many expect, the team will presumably need to make a new hire or promotion to take over some or all of the radio broadcasts, or perhaps to take over PA duties at Toyota Center (if Thomas gets the full-time radio gig).

Here’s the official text of Tuesday’s press release from the Rockets, which includes comments from both Worrell and owner Tilman Fertitta.

AT&T SportsNet’s Bill Worrell to Broadcast His Final Rockets Game on May 14

Today, AT&T SportsNet’s Bill Worrell announced he will retire as the Rockets television play-by-play broadcaster following Houston’s final home game of the season vs. the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, May 14. Worrell will remain as a special contributor for AT&T SportsNet next season, which will be his 40th with the Rockets, before retiring.

AT&T SportsNet will celebrate Worrell’s illustrious career by having special guests join throughout his final broadcast on Friday, including Rockets owner Tilman J. Fertitta. In a statement, Worrell said:

I have decided that after four decades of broadcasting Rockets games, it’s time to step away from the day-to-day grind of the booth. To have worked for my hometown team and to have been a part of bringing so many memorable moments into your homes over the years, including the back-to-back championships, has been the greatest joy of my life.

The wonderful experiences and the amazing people I’ve met along the way has made this journey more than I could have ever imagined. Although I’ll miss connecting with Rockets fans on game nights, my goal now is to play as many top 100 golf courses as I can before my next permanent retirement. I have played 38 so far, so I have plenty of golf to play. I’d like to thank the Houston Rockets organization, AT&T SportsNet, and most importantly, the fans that have allowed me to be a small part of their lives. It has been an incredible ride!

Fertitta added:

Throughout sports, several broadcasters have become synonymous with their team because of how they welcomed and engaged generations of fans, and Bill Worrell has done that for the Houston Rockets. We thank Bill for nearly four decades of helping to create unforgettable moments for Rockets fans and are honored to call him a ‘Rocket for Life.’

A Houston native, Worrell began his television career in 1970 shortly after graduating from the University of Houston. From 1974-80, he served as the sports director for KPRC. Worrell was one of the original employees for Home Sports Entertainment, Houston’s first cable channel which launched in January of 1983.

Worrell also served as an analyst for Houston Astros telecasts from 1985-2005 and did play-by-play for Houston Oilers games and a variety of college sports. He covered and reported numerous national sporting events, including the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, Indianapolis 500, Major League Baseball playoffs, and the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

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NFL announces new broadcasting rights deals, with huge salary cap implications

The New Orleans Saints will benefit from new NFL TV broadcasting rights agreements, though the salary cap may not see a jump until 2023.

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The NFL’s landscape changed a bit on Thursday, when the league announced new long-term agreements with its broadcasting partners — a stable that includes CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon — which will bring in $10 billion in revenue each year for a decade, starting in 2023. That’s great news for the New Orleans Saints and other teams that maximize their salary cap resources.

That’s because the salary cap is directly linked with league revenue, which is tied to these media contracts as well as other income sources like advertising partnerships and stadium attendance and concessions. Even once it’s spread among all 32 teams, that $10 billion will go a long way, and it’ll help the Saints get back on track.

For context, the NFL’s previous broadcasting deals brought in $4.4 billion per year, and that was enough to see the salary cap rise nearly $10 million each season. Once the cap spikes in 2023 when this agreement kicks off, we could see annual cap rises that dwarf past expectations.

But getting there is key. Right now, the Saints rank sixth in salary cap commitments for 2022, with just 30 players under contract after the upcoming season. Even if they extend a handful of their top pending free agents (Terron Armstead, Ryan Ramczyk, Marshon Lattimore, and Marcus Williams are each due new contracts in 2022) and hit on all seven of their draft picks this year, the Saints will still have a dozen or more vacancies to fill just to field a team. It’s a complicated situation. That seems to always be the case for the Saints and the salary cap, but they’ve managed it well until an international pandemic turned everything on its head. Now the recovery begins.

Still, knowing that this big bump is on the way is good news for everyone. For now, the league plans to enforce a flat cap in 2022 (keeping it at $182.5 million), but that’s expected to be renegotiated with the NFL players union. If the Saints can weather the storm of salary cap restrictions in store for them in 2022, they’ll reach a veritable promised land in 2023. There are other changes ahead with the new broadcasting rights agreements, like making prime time games on Sunday and Monday nights flexible and limited Thursday night distribution, which you can get up to speed on over at Touchdown Wire.

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