After almost a decade at ESPN, star sportscaster Adam Amin has embraced a new opportunity. The young sportscaster and play-by-play announcer will instead join ESPN rival Fox Sports. Amin will likely cover NFL and college football, as well as MLB.
In addition to his new role at Fox Sports, Amin is also the new permanent play-by-play broadcaster for the Chicago Bulls, replacing long-time broadcaster Neil Funk.
Adam Amin at ESPN: from college football to hotdog eating contests
Amin started at ESPN in 2011. At this time, he commented mostly on college football and basketball, although throughout his tenure he also spoke on other sports, like softball and tennis. He also called play-by-plays for the Final Four of the Division 1 Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2018, preseason games for the Chicago Bears, and also for the Chicago Bulls against the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics.
- Adam Amin on commentary for Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest and how he approaches his broadcasting:
- Adam Amin recaps the preseason game for the Chicago Bears with Tide 100.9’s radio host Gary Harris
Amin attributes at least part of his success to luck, of a sort. “If you nail [the big moments], people respect that,” Amin explains to the Chicago Tribune. “People attach to your voice, then to the moment. You don’t get longevity in this career and you don’t get any boost in your career without having moments that are attached to your call and your voice.”
But of course, catching these moments takes a lot of skill and practice, too. His eye for these events and the enthusiasm in his commentary made him a quick favorite among sports fan.
Sportscasting at a young age
The son of Pakistani immigrants, Amin was born in Chicago. Like fellow sports reports Shams Charania, Amin began his career as a student. He embarked on his first broadcasting gig at his alma mater, Valparaiso University, with the student-run radio station. Before he joined ESPN in 2011, Amin also worked as a sportcaster at the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network, Fox Sports Wisconsin, and the Horizon League Network just to name a few. Amin tells the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America that he loves sportscasting “because there is a challenge to it.”
“It’s fun to have that responsibility, to be able to not only bring a game to people but maybe give them some information that they didn’t know,” Amin says. “Maybe to make them care about somebody that they didn’t initially care about by telling a good story about somebody, being able to deliver a story well.”
With just a few minor jobs under his belt, he joined ESPN at only 24 years old. He credits this early success partially to the fact that he had smaller audiences, and could therefore commit some errors that he would now consider “egregious.”
Adam Amin moves to Fox Sports
Fox snagged Amin because he’s young, talented, and able to contribute a lot to the network. He’s happy for the move, although he has found leaving ESPN after such a long time to be a little difficult, report Forbes. At the same time, he’s glad to be part of Fox’s attempt to diversify their sportscasting crew. “If somebody now looks at me and says ‘he looks like me’ or ‘they’re from the same background as me, I appreciate that about them’, I like that,” he tells Forbes. “I’m happy about that, and I hope there’s more of that.”
Some predict that Amin could be “an eventual successor” to top Fox broadcasters. But other major names have also made the move from ESPN to Fox News in recent months, including former linebacker Emmanuel Acho, and Kevin Wildes.
Amin released two statements in June, one a farewell to ESPN and another a response to his welcome at FOX and the Chicago Bulls. Amin writes in his Tweet that he is “ecstatic” to join Fox, and even more so for the Bulls.
“So my mind shifts to this: opportunities are gifts and one that carries significant weight is representing my home city,” he writes. “I like to imagine that this city chose my dad when he immigrated here.”
Catch Amin commenting on the NFL and MLB, as well as the Chicago Bulls.
