Sports USA Media is the largest independent sports broadcasting radio network in the United States, specializing in live broadcasts of
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
, specifically of the
NCAA football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most o ...
Division I-A
The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...
and
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
. In 2018, more than 450 radio stations across the United States carried NFL and NCAA football games from Sports USA.
Programs
''The NFL on Sports USA''
Sports USA began broadcasting NFL games in
2002.
It broadcasts two games every Sunday during the
NFL regular season for a total of 34 games.
''College Football on Sports USA''
Sports USA broadcasts at least one major
college football game every Saturday during the college football season. In addition, Sports USA periodically broadcasts a Thursday night match up, along with select
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...
s.
''The NHL on Sports USA''
In February 2021, Sports USA reached a deal with
NBC Sports, which was phasing out of both radio and hockey, to take over its
rights to national radio broadcasts of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
.
That season, it aired two outdoor games, selected early round playoff games, and all games from the Stanley Cup Semifinals and Finals. Later in 2021, Sports USA renewed its rights until the 2024-25 season. Unlike other league's major championship coverage, this coverage is not exclusive and stations that are affiliated with the participating Stanley Cup Final team's radio networks will be allowed to carry and stream coverage.
Other sports
Sports USA Media also carries the
Little League World Series
The Little League World Series is an annual baseball tournament for children—typically boys—aged 10 to 12 years old, held in the Eastern United States. Originally called the National Little League Tournament, it was later renamed for the Wor ...
,
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
and horse racing from the
Horse Racing Radio Network. HRRN also produces the
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, often shortened to Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for Thoroughbreds, often restricted to three-year-olds. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplis ...
(
Kentucky Derby,
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () o ...
and
Belmont Stakes); however distribution is handled by
Westwood One
Westwood One 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 1978. The compan ...
.
Announcers
Sports USA has a large list of announcers for its football coverage. Play-by play announcers include the network's founder and former
USC Trojans football
The USC Trojans football program represents University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 ...
broadcaster Larry Kahn,
Anaheim Ducks broadcaster
John Ahlers
John Ahlers is the television play-by-play announcer for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League on Bally Sports SoCal/Bally Sports West. He has also served as an announcer for ''Poker Royale'' on the Game Show Network.
A Michigan State ...
,
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 ...
announcer
Adam Amin, former
USC Trojans football
The USC Trojans football program represents University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 ...
and
Los Angeles Rams head coach
John Robinson, former Colorado head coach
Gary Barnett
Gary Lee Barnett (born May 23, 1946) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Fort Lewis College (1982–1983), Northwestern University (1992–1998), and the University of Colorado at Boulder (1999–2005), ...
, former ABC announcer and quarterback
Dan Fouts
Daniel Francis Fouts (born June 10, 1951) is an American former football quarterback who played for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) throughout his 15-season career (1973-87). After a relatively undistinguished fi ...
(Fouts also splits time with the ''
NFL on CBS
The ''NFL on CBS'' is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The network has aired NFL game telecasts sin ...
''),
Ross Tucker
Ross Finch Tucker (born March 2, 1979) is a former American football offensive lineman and current sports broadcaster. Tucker was an All-Ivy League offensive lineman at Princeton University, then played seven seasons in the National Football L ...
,
Golden State Warriors announcer
Bob Fitzgerald
Robert James Fitzgerald (born 1966) is an American sports broadcaster who is currently the TV play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Golden State Warriors on NBC Sports Bay Area and was a co-host of the radio talk show ''Fitz and Brooks'' on KNB ...
, former USFL defensive back
Troy West, and
Eli Gold
Elias Leo Gold (born December 15, 1953) is an American sportscaster. Gold is best known as the radio voice for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, along with Tom Roberts, as part of the Crimson Tide Sports Network since 1988. He was the hos ...
(voice of the
Alabama Crimson Tide
The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...
, perhaps better known nationally for his work on
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
). Analysts include former
Chicago Bears safety
Doug Plank
Douglas Walter Plank (born March 4, 1953) is a former American football safety and coach in the National Football League.
Early life
Plank attended Norwin High School in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he played baseball, basketball, ...
, former
Indianapolis Colts tight end and
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 ...
, studio and game analyst
Charles Arbuckle, and
Anaheim Ducks color commentator
Brian Hayward
Brian George Hayward (born June 25, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who currently serves as a color analyst for Anaheim Ducks broadcasts on Prime Ticket/Fox Sports West and KDOC.
Playing career
Hayward played coll ...
. Veteran Los Angeles reporter and broadcaster for
KFWB
KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs a classic Regional Mexican music format. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. Studios i ...
Ted Sobel
Ted Sobel (born July 14, 1953) is an American sportscaster and author who is the longest current tenured Los Angeles-based radio sports reporter. He has worked mostly with CBS Radio since 1985. Sobel is the network's in-studio host and producer of ...
acts as the network's studio host and reporter.
Podcasts
Sports USA also produces a variety of sports
podcasts.
''Conversations with
Joe Morgan
Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...
'' was a weekly podcast from the
Cincinnati Reds late Hall of Famer and two-time
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
Champion
Joe Morgan
Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...
. Previous guests on Morgan's program show included the late former President
George H. W. Bush,
Bill Russell
William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Va ...
,
Bob Costas
Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 19 ...
,
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons ...
and a host of others.
''Snakes Takes with
Jake Plummer
Jason Steven "Jake" Plummer (born December 19, 1974) is a former professional American football player, a quarterback for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 1997 ...
'' is a weekly
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
hosted by former Pro Bowl quarterback who played 10 seasons in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos.
Jake Plummer
Jason Steven "Jake" Plummer (born December 19, 1974) is a former professional American football player, a quarterback for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 1997 ...
is currently an NFL game analyst on Sports USA's Sunday Doubleheader package as well as a college football analyst on the
Pac-12 Network.
''The
Fred Dryer
John Frederick Dryer (born July 6, 1946) is an American actor, radio host, screenwriter and former professional football player.
He was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL)
for 13 years, participating in 176 games starting in ...
Show'' is a weekly podcast hosted by the former All-Pro NFL Defensive End and star of the hit television series
''Hunter'' on NBC.
''Ted Sobel's Excellent Sports Adventure'' is a weekly podcast hosted by Ted Sobel, who joined Sports USA in 2005 as a sideline reporter and studio host for NFL and college football games.
Ted Sobel
Ted Sobel (born July 14, 1953) is an American sportscaster and author who is the longest current tenured Los Angeles-based radio sports reporter. He has worked mostly with CBS Radio since 1985. Sobel is the network's in-studio host and producer of ...
is the recipient of three Golden Mike Awards for his work as a sports reporter/anchor at
KFWB
KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs a classic Regional Mexican music format. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. Studios i ...
980 in Los Angeles.
References
External links
Sports USA Radio
{{Sports networks in the United States
Sports radio networks in the United States
National Football League on the radio
College football on the radio