Kenny Albert still putting in the work after 500 NFL broadcasts at Fox
Some quick thinking helped Fox Sports’ Kenny Albert prepare for his call of the Bears-49ers game Sunday more than a week in advance.
Albert was set to meet with Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford last Friday when the Bears fired coach Matt Eberflus and named Thomas Brown their interim coach. The meeting was for the Rams-Saints game Albert was preparing to call, but he also used it as a chance to get a leg up on his next game.
He asked Stafford for his thoughts on Brown, who was the Rams’ assistant head coach under Sean McVay when they won the Super Bowl after the 2021 season. He also was Stafford’s college teammate at Georgia for two seasons (2006-07).
Talk about being prepared.
“So I got a nugget a week early because I knew we had the Bears coming up this week,” Albert said. “[Stafford] told me how much of a leader [Brown] is, how sharp he is, intense. He said he’ll be great for the young guys on the team.”
That depth of knowledge and preparation has led Albert, 56, to call more than 500 NFL games for Fox, a milestone he reached Oct. 13 with a Browns-Eagles game. According to Fox, he ranks seventh all-time in NFL games called among play-by-play broadcasters, trailing Al Michaels, Dick Stockton, Don Criqui, Pat Summerall, Kevin Harlan and Charlie Jones.
He’ll be at Levi’s Stadium with analyst Jonathan Vilma in the midst of their fifth season together. Albert’s first partner was Ron Pitts in Fox’s first year of NFL coverage in 1994. Then came Anthony Munoz, Tim Green, Brian Baldinger, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa and Ronde Barber.
“I’ve had great partners through the years, tremendous production crews,” Albert said. “It’s really a team effort. During the football season, when you’re with your crew pretty much Friday through Sunday for 18, 20 weeks, you see your crew more than your family, so you become a family.”
Calling NFL games on TV wasn’t on Albert’s radar when he was growing up in Sands Point, New York, a suburb of New York City. His goal was to call hockey on the radio. In fact, his first job was play-by-play voice of the American Hockey League’s Baltimore Skipjacks in 1990. After Fox swiped the NFC package from CBS in December 1993, the network hired Albert, only 26, as one of its first announcers.
“I think back often to the first year when a lot of us were in the right place at the right time,” Albert said. “Fox executives David Hill and Ed Goren at the time decided to take a chance on some young announcers, especially on the play-by-play side. Joe Buck, Kevin Harlan, Thom Brennaman and I were all hired back in ’94. I’m really proud to say that I’m still at Fox.”
Albert has called lots of Bears games over the years, including a rare playoff victory after the 2010 season against the Seahawks. He and Vilma called the Bears’ win over the Panthers in Week 5 this season, but a lot has changed since then. Albert expects the Bears to get the proverbial new-coach bump.
“I think they will get that energy from the coaching change,” he said. “They’re going up against a team that’s had a disappointing season, a lot of injuries. I think it will be a really competitive game. They’re in the toughest division in football. The Bears’ last three games — they’ve had some wacky things happen — but against Green Bay, Minnesota and Detroit, they’ve lost by a combined seven points.”
Albert will be at Wrigley Field on New Year's Eve to call the Winter Classic between the Blackhawks and Blues with Eddie Olczyk for TNT. Add it to Albert’s list of games across the four primary U.S. sports that, according to Fox, was at 1,378 entering football season, ranking fourth all-time among play-by-play voices. Albert also calls the Rangers and Knicks for MSG and MLB for Fox.