John Strong is an American television play-by-play broadcaster who is the lead play-by-play voice for '' MLS on Fox''. His work has appeared on NBC, Fox, ESPN among other networks. He is a former radio host on 750-AM "The Game" in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

and was the radio and television play-by-play announcer for the Portland Timbers Major League Soccer team.

Broadcasting career

Strong began his broadcasting career while in high school at

Lake Oswego High School Lake Oswego High School (LOHS) is a public high school in Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States. History Lake Oswego High School first opened in September 1951 as a six-year school, with an enrollment of 564. In 1956, it became a four-year high sch ...

, where he founded Laker Broadcasting. Strong created audio broadcasts of LOHS football and basketball games beginning in 2002. While attending School of Journalism and Communication at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, Strong worked at 750 KXL in Portland and was active at Oregon's campus station,

KWVA KWVA (88.1 FM) is a college radio station broadcasting from the EMU building on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Licensed to the University of Oregon, it serves the Eugene/Springfield metropolitan area and has a ...

. Strong continued his play-by-play work by broadcasting University of Oregon women's soccer,

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, and women's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a 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 was extensiv ...

. He also served as play-by-play voice for the Eugene Generals Junior Hockey team in 2005-06. Strong's first full-time broadcast job came at Portland's KXL radio and, later, 750 AM "The Game" in 2008. Strong produced "The Bald Faced Truth" radio show and also hosted a daily evening radio show called "Strong at Night" for the station. In 2010, Strong was the play-by-play announcer for the Portland Timbers and in 2011 became the regular play-by-play announcer for Timbers broadcasts on FSN Northwest. He was a regular commentator on Europa League games for

Fox Soccer Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australi ...

, notably calling the

2013 UEFA Europa League Final The 2013 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Euro ...

between Chelsea and Benfica. After the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, he moved to NBC Sports to cover Major League Soccer and

Premier League football Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. After NBC's loss of Major League Soccer coverage to

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 ...

in 2014, it was announced that Strong was moving full-time to Fox Sports to head the Major League Soccer, and Women's World Cup coverage. Strong was previously working part-time for Fox when he was not obligated to his NBC duties. In 2015, Strong also began to serve as the lead play-by-play voice for most

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team h ...

matches broadcast on Fox/Fox Sports 1 because of a new television contract between U.S. Soccer,

, and ESPN/ABC. Brad Friedel and later

Stuart Holden Stuart Alistair Holden (born August 1, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder, and is currently a lead TV game analyst for Fox Sports. Holden is part of the ownership group for Spanish La Liga soccer ...

joined him as the lead color commentator for these matches. He and lead color commentator

called the Fox broadcast of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2022 FIFA World Cup, including the finals for both

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

TV credits

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

: 2012–2014 ( NBCSN), 2015–present (

) * FIFA Women's World Cup: 2015 (

) *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

: 2014–2016 (

) *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

: 2016–2018 (

) *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: 2018, 2022 (

) * Copa América: 2016, 2021 (

)

Honors

In 2013, Strong was named Oregon Sportscaster of the Year by the

National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports P ...

. In 2011, he was awarded Major League Soccer’s Broadcast Call of the Year for his play-by-play call of midfielder

Darlington Nagbe Darlington Joephillip Nagbe (born July 19, 1990) is an professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer. Born in Liberia, he represented the United States national team. Nagbe spent the first seven ...

’s goal against Sporting Kansas City on July 2, 2011 at Jeld-Wen Field in Portland. Strong’s call has been viewed nearly two million times on YouTube.com and following the season was named the Timbers’ 2011 Play of the Year.

Personal life

Strong is married to Nicole Strong, a former

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

soccer player who led the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). ...

in goals scored in 2011. She previously coached the Central Catholic High School girls' soccer team and was named the Mt. Hood Conference Coach of the Year after winning a league title in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, John Living people American sports announcers Portland Timbers Association football commentators University of Oregon alumni People from Lake Oswego, Oregon 1985 births Lake Oswego High School alumni Major League Soccer broadcasters