A source said that Impemba (r) and Allen (l) each have a contract only through this seasonAllen (l) and Impemba (r)
The future of FS Detroit Tigers announcers Mario Impemba and Rod Allen is "undetermined" following their physical altercation that resulted in the RSN taking them both off the air for the remained of the '18 season, according to Lynn Henning of the DETROIT NEWS. A source said that "each man has a contract only through" this season. Matt Shepard and Kirk Gibson are "expected to help fill two giant vacancies" for the next three weeks, as it is thought Gibson "will work most games, if not all, as FSD's analyst." The absence of Impemba and Allen "blindsided all parties and left something of a vacuum in the FSD booth." They have gotten past a "carefully concealed hostility that allowed them to partner within the booth but often on edge." The rift "boiled over Tuesday night, long after a pregame spat over a chair that Allen had intended to use as a means for easing back pain." The two men "made it through Tuesday's telecast but not easily." At one point, a "43-second period of dead air signaled, as it had during some previous contentiousness between the two, that there were issues boiling" (DETROIT NEWS, 9/8). A source said that the contracts for Impemba and Allen "were not terminated" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 9/8). In Detroit, Anthony Fenech wrote it would "be a surprise to see the station stick with one and not the other, given the circumstances," as both men "carry fault" for the situation (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 9/8).
