.jpg)
1 hour ago
2
"Sunday Night Baseball" is getting an overhaul for the 2026 MLB season. The program was long carried on ESPN, but now the rights to the timeslot have been purchased by NBC.
The network is looking to own the Sunday night sports slot after also owning the rights to "Sunday Night Football" and some "Sunday Night Basketball" games for the NBA.
NBC will begin its "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast on Opening Day, but the games will air only on Peacock until the first on NBC on April 12, when the Cleveland Guardians take on the Atlanta Braves. The network is still compiling the crew for the games, but has decided on its play-by-play announcer, as NBC has hired Detroit Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti. He has been involved in sports since 2011, when he began working for ESPN, and has been an MLB announcer since 2016.
Here is more on NBC hiring Benetti to lead its "Sunday Night Baseball" coverage.
MORE: 2026 WBC rosters by MLB team
Why NBC is hiring Jason Benetti
NBC will start airing "Sunday Night Baseball" in the 2026 season. All told, the network will air 31 games between Peacock and/or NBC. The network is taking over the time slot from ESPN and needs to put together a "Sunday Night Baseball" specific broadcast team.
NBC opted to hire Benetti, who has been calling baseball games for the last decade. He will serve as the play-by-play analyst, and the rest of the broadcast team hasn't yet been filled out.
Who is Jason Benetti?
Benetti is a 42-year-old broadcaster from Chicago, Illinois. He has cerebral palsy, and found sports broadcasting while in high school. Benetti graduated with a degree in Public Communications from Syracuse and then earned his law degree from Wake Forest. While at Wake Forest, he began announcing High Point University basketball games.
Benetti joined ESPN as an intern in 2011 and was later moved full-time, mainly covering college basketball and football. He began calling Chicago White Sox games in 2016 in a part-time capacity, but took over as the full play-by-play analyst in 2019 when longtime announcer Ken Harrelson retired.
After five years, he joined the Detroit Tigers as their main play-by-play announcer in 2024. This will not be Benetti's first stint with NBC. He was hired as a play-by-play announcer in 2020 when baseball was part of the Summer Olympics.
MORE: Ranking the best, worst 2026 WBC jerseys
Will Jason Benetti still call Tigers games?
Yes, Benetti will still call Tigers games.
The plan is for him to call local Detroit games throughout the week and then cover the "Sunday Night Baseball" game.
Jason Benetti broadcast career timeline
Here is an overview of Benetti's broadcast career.
- Homewood-Flossmor High School radio station (88.5 WHFH) providing coverage for the high school's sports teams.
- WAER-FM and WJPZ-FM providing coverage of Syracuse lacrosse and women's basketball
- High Point University basketball games
- Syracuse Chiefs baseball games
- ESPN (2011-2022) calling college basketball, college football and KBO games
- Chicago White Sox (2016-2023)
- NBC (2020) calling baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Fox (2022-present) calling college football and basketball
- Detroit Tigers (2024-present)
- NBC (2026-present) serving as the play-by-play announcer for "Sunday Night Baseball"
At the start of his career, Benetti preferred radio broadcasting and had little interest in the TV side of things. He first got started in high school. He went to Homewood-Flossmor High School, and they had a radio station at the time. Benetti joined the broadcast and provided coverage for the high school's sports teams.
He kept his interest going while at Syracuse University for his undergraduate degree. Benetti worked for both WAER-FM and WJPZ-FM, providing coverage for lacrosse and women's basketball games. While earning his law degree at Wake Forest, he worked for Time Warner Cable Sports Channel, providing coverage of both High Point University basketball games and Syracuse Chiefs minor league baseball games.
Benetti joined ESPN first as an intern in 2011 at the sports radio station WSCR in Chicago. He started making more TV appearances during his internship, even though he began to prefer radio broadcasting. Benetti began calling college basketball on ESPN3 and was then moved to ESPN2 and ESPNU.
While his professional history was in college basketball, he first called a college football game for the American Athletic Conference in 2013, and that launched him into doing broadcasts for both basketball and football.
In 2016, Benetti started calling baseball games for the White Sox, serving as a fill-in for Harrelson, the team's longtime broadcaster. He took over for Harrelson full-time in 2019 when he retired. Benetti was with the White Sox for six full seasons before changing teams and joining the Tigers.
English (US)