Chicago Blackhawks officially fire Chris Vosters and announce new broadcaster

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Sam Walker
June 6, 2024 (1:45 PM)

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Blackhawks official announce new broadcasting team and fire Chris Vosters

The Chicago Blackhawks appointed Chris Vosters as the teams new broadcaster last year, and he had big shoes to fill- leading after the footsteps of the legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster Pat Foley. That came with a lot of hate..

Now, it's officially over following an official team announcement.

As of Thursday, June 6th, Vosters has been fired and NHL veteran broadcaster Rick Ball is now the organizations newest play-by-play announcer.

«One thing we know is that our fans value a deep hockey knowledge and experience, and it was important to us that our broadcast reflect those values,» said Blackhawks president of business Jaime Faulkner. «Every year after the season concludes, we evaluate our broadcast talent in the booth for both radio and TV, and also in-studio, to determine if it is at the level our fans expect and deserve. Based on our own evaluations, as well as feedback from key stakeholders and partners, we felt we need to make a change in this role.

More was stated:

«We knew it would be difficult to replace someone as loved and talented as Pat Foley when we first started the process three years ago. Of everyone we looked at and available at the time, Chris was the clear favorite, and we were convinced we had found our voice. Chris did a tremendous job calling Blackhawks games, and while it's certainly unfortunate that it didn't work out with him in the end, we're confident that Rick is going to help our broadcast reach new heights and we're excited for him to join the team.»

The Blackhawks' official goodbye to Vosters:

«Chris is a tremendous broadcaster with a very bright future ahead of him,» Faulkner said. «He has a very big voice that lends itself extremely well to being a sports broadcaster. We want to offer our fans a broadcast with deep experience and hockey knowledge. We evaluate things like depth of hockey vocabulary, ability to anticipate the play to use your voice to draw the viewer in, ability to call plays happening with players who don't have the puck, and knowing that sometimes you don't say anything at all.»

Welcome to Chicago, Rick Ball!

Get to know him here: Get to know the newest voice of the Blackhawks

Source: TheAthletic
Blackhawks remove Chris Vosters from TV booth, hire veteran NHL broadcaster Rick Ball