Matt Devlin | |
---|---|
Born | 1969 (age 54–55) Syracuse, New York, U.S. |
Citizenship | United States (1969–present) Canada (2019–present) |
Alma mater | Boston College |
Occupation | Sportscaster |
Children | 3 |
Sports commentary career | |
Team | Toronto Raptors |
Genre | Play-by-play announcer |
Sport | Basketball |
Matt Devlin (born 1969) is a play-by-play TV announcer currently employed mainly by the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, having replaced Chuck Swirsky in 2008. His current on-air colour commentator partners are Alvin Williams and Jack Armstrong.
Devlin started with NBA TV during its first season in 1999. [1] He then spent three years (2001–2004) as the lead play-by-play voice of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, and three years for the Charlotte Bobcats. He has also done play-by-play for the NBA on TNT and football and men's college basketball for Big Ten Network. For many years, he has provided commentary during the NBA Playoffs in the early rounds of the Western Conference. Also working for the NFL on Fox for play by play.
Devlin served as the play-by-play man for NBC Sports' coverage of Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics. [2]
In 2008, Devlin joined the Toronto Raptors as the team's play-by-play television announcer. [3]
Although employed by the Raptors organization, during the offseason he has occasionally served as a fill-in play-by-play announcer for both of the Raptors' broadcast partners, TSN and Sportsnet. This has included play-by-play for the CFL on TSN and for Sportsnet's coverage of the Rogers Cup (both in 2012), [4] and for Sportsnet's Toronto Blue Jays coverage in 2013, 2014, 2016, [5] 2017, 2022, and 2023. In addition, in the fall of 2011, during the NBA lockout, Devlin hosted the pre-game and post-game shows for Toronto Maple Leafs games on Leafs TV. (The Raptors and the Leafs are both owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which in turn is primarily owned by the parent companies of TSN and Sportsnet.)
Devlin is known for his catchphrase of describing 3-point shots as coming not from "downtown" but from the suburbs of Toronto, e.g. "He hits it from Mississauga!", "Drains it from Pickering!", "Banks it in from Burlington!" When Raptors fever swept across Canada during the team's run to the 2019 NBA championship, the shots started coming from the entire country: "From Edmonton!", "From Halifax!", "From Iqaluit!" [6]
A native of Syracuse, New York, Devlin graduated from Boston College with a communication major in 1990. [7] He has three sons, Jack, Ian and Luke, with his wife Erin. [8] Jack Devlin, who has special needs, served as a student manager for the Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team from 2018 to 2022. He gained national attention when draining a shot from half-court in his final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. [9] Luke is a collegiate ice hockey player at Cornell and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the sixth round of the 2022 NHL Draft.
In 2019, Devlin became a Canadian citizen during the Raptors' NBA Finals run. [6]
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games primarily at Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto.
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The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Scotiabank Arena, which it shares with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded in 1995 as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since the 2001–02 season, the Raptors have been the only Canadian-based team in the league, as the Grizzlies relocated from Vancouver to Memphis, Tennessee.
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National Hockey League broadcasts are held by Canadian media corporation Rogers Communications, showing on its television channel Sportsnet and other networks owned by or affiliated with its Rogers Sports & Media division, as well as the Sportsnet Radio chain under the NHL on Sportsnet brand which serves as a blanket title. Sportsnet previously held the national cable rights for NHL regular season and playoff games from 1998 to 2002.
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On April 19, 2011, after ESPN, Turner Sports, and Fox Sports placed bids, NBC Sports announced it had reached a ten-year extension to its U.S. television contract with the NHL worth nearly $2 billion over the tenure of the contract. The contract would cover games on both NBC and sister cable channel Versus, which became part of the NBC Sports family as the result of Versus parent Comcast's controlling purchase of NBC Universal earlier in 2011.
Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey is the branding used for Sportsnet’s flagship broadcasts of National Hockey League games on Wednesday nights. In November 2013, Rogers reached a 12-year deal to become the exclusive national television and digital rightsholder for the NHL in Canada, beating out broadcasters CBC Sports and TSN for the rights.