SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Jason Benetti, who has served as the play-by-play announcer for the Syracuse Chiefs since 2009, has accepted a similar position with WestwoodOne Sports.
In that role, Benetti will broadcast both college football and basketball to a national radio audience.
The Syracuse Chiefs made the announcement in a news release distributed today.
At the same time, Benetti has also secured a “national television opportunity,” but the Chiefs didn’t provide further details on that.
Benetti will call his final Chiefs game on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel on Aug. 8 when the Chiefs host the Louisville Bats at 7 p.m.
His final game on radio station The Score 1260 (WSKO AM 1260) will be Aug. 10 at 1:05 p.m.
Benetti’s first game for WestwoodOne Sports is scheduled for Aug. 30 when Louisiana St. (more commonly known as LSU) plays Wisconsin, the Chiefs said. The teams will play in the 2014 AdvoCare Texas Kickoff, which is set for Reliant Stadium in Houston, according to the game’s website.
WestwoodOne Sports describes itself as “the leader in play-by-play sports broadcasts on radio,” on its website.
New York City–based WestwoodOne is the largest, independent, national-audio media company in the U.S., delivering audio content to more than 8,200 radio stations and digital-media companies, the website says.
The decision was “extremely difficult,” Benetti said in the news release.
“The Chiefs, their fans and baseball in Central New York mean a great deal to me. But, it’s time for me to move on,” said Benetti.
Kevin Brown, who currently works as the team’s director or media and public relations, will assume the play-by-play role. Benetti and Brown have teamed for the Chiefs’ radio broadcasts since 2011, the team said.
Over the past three basketball seasons, Benetti has served as a play-by-play announcer for ESPN.
His assignments included play-by-play for ESPN3’s coverage of Syracuse’s 56-50 victory over St. Francis (Brooklyn) in the Carrier Dome on Nov. 18, 2013.
In addition to his work with the Chiefs. Benetti has also called football, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, hockey and wrestling for Time Warner Cable SportsChannel since 2009.
He also has served as an adjunct instructor at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, according to the Chiefs.
The team “knew this day would come,” Jason Smorol, general manager of the Syracuse Chiefs, said in the news release.
“Jason is far too talented and too good of a person not to have been on the radar of the national media outlets. This is a well-deserved promotion to the big leagues for Jason. I am extremely happy for him and his future. I am also happy we have a professional like Kevin Brown still here to maintain the excellence that the Chiefs radio team is known for,” said Smorol.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com