The Milwaukee Bucks run to the 2020-21 NBA title also happened to coincide with the final year of longtime TV play-by-play man Jim Paschke’s tenure with the team. The legendary announcer announced prior to the season that he’d be retiring, and the Bucks just so happened to have a championship run in them to put quite the exclamation point on his career.
Entering this season, Milwaukee needed a new full-time play-by-play broadcaster for the upcoming season, which is one of those jobs that doesn’t open up very often. On Wednesday, they announced their choice, Lisa Byington, who has called college football games for the Big Ten Network, college hoops on FS1, WNBA games for the Chicago Sky, and this spring made history as the first woman to do play-by-play in the men’s NCAA Tournament. Byington will likewise make history with her new gig in Milwaukee, becoming the first woman to be the full-time TV play-by-play announcer for a men’s professional sports team in the Big 4 sports.
.@LisaByington becomes the first female full-time TV play-by-play announcer for a major men’s professional sports team.
Welcome to Milwaukee, Lisa!! pic.twitter.com/HYZXUqshOa
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) September 15, 2021
As noted above, Byington has quite the resume and is more than qualified for the position. Hopefully, a woman being hired to do play-by-play won’t be a significant story in the future, but for now it is a major moment for women in sports broadcasting as Byington gets to take over the call of one of the NBA’s very best teams.
