Fox Sports yesterday announced it has signed announcer Tim Brando to a multiyear deal that will "include play by play duties for college football and college basketball" on Fox and FS1, according to David Barron of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Brando made an "amicable departure earlier this year from CBS Sports, where he called NCAA Tournament games and hosted studio shows," including "College Football Today." Brando said, "No matter how confident you are or how well you do your job, there’s no guarantee you’re going to get to continue doing it. Exactly what I wanted to happen to my career has happened. It just took a little longer getting to the finish line than I suspected it would.” Brando earlier this month had acknowledged reports that he would be "doing basketball games for ESPN’s SEC Network with no reference to football work." An ESPN spokesperson yesterday said regarding Brando, “We were in discussions but didn’t come to an agreement. We wish him well.” Brando added, "People want to identify announcers with [a] certain conference, and when you’ve done the SEC on CBS for 16 years in the studio and worked for 18 years at a network doing the SEC, you’re going to get pigeonholed into that thought process. Everybody thought that it was a fait accompli that I was going to the SEC Network, and I was never sure that was going to happen." Brando said that he "talked two weeks ago last Monday with Fox officials" in L.A. Brando: "I’m really stoked about what I am going to get to do. Football is the big tail that wags the dog, and they offered me a full package of games through the season to go along with college basketball, which is enhanced by their Big East package. I wanted to break away from the studio and do games, and this will give me that platform" (CHRON.com, 6/25).
