Seattle Basketball Broadcasting Icon Switches To Soccer

By John Zielonka

On-air sports personality Kevin Calabro is as much an icon in the Seattle area as majestic Mount Rainier. The 52-year-old spent over two decades on the air with the Seattle Supersonics, until they were sold to an out-of-town ownership group.

Calabro made a career-changing decision for himself and his family: he rebuffed the offer made by the new owners to continue his play-by-play duties in Oklahoma City. Instead, he opted to stay in Seattle.

The Sounders quickly offered him their announcing job, despite the fact that he’d never broadcast the sport.

“I wanted to continue to do some play-by-play,” Calabro said. “The Sounders reached out to me before anybody else in the market did, when I made it abundantly clear that I was not moving to Oklahoma City. It just seemed to be nice fit.”

He acknowledged the learning curve involved in calling soccer games. "I’ve gone into other situations where I’ve not had a wealth of knowledge of the event. I realized that I need to be able to connect with soccer fans and to a general audience that are going to be in my boat.”

Soccer resonated with Calabro after attending several USL Sounders matches last year with owner Adrian Hanauer and 'keeper Kasey Keller. His mind started to form a pattern during the games as to how he would broadcast the action.

Calabro admitted to having a process in place before he steps into the broadcast booth. “It’s the same,” he said about the groundwork required. “Go talk to players, coaches, writers and broadcasters. Expose yourself as much as you can to the sport.”

He prepares for each broadcast by reading out-of-town newspapers and relies on a network of experts to provide him insights into a various topics, such as the rules or nuances of each sport.

Calabro praised the cooperation he’s received from the Sounders FC players, management and coaching staff, especially head coach Sigi Schmid.

“If you’re lucky enough, the coach will allow you to come to practice. Sigi has been great. He’ll confide some things to me that I use as background that have helped me in describing the action.”

He finds the availability and openness of soccer players refreshing compared to the NBA. Calabro attributes the difference to the scrutiny faced by NBA players. He wondered if this would change once the popularity of soccer increased in North America.

“A lot of times in the NBA really big-name stars aren’t quite as accessible,” Calabro said. “I think this has to do with the crush of media on some of these guys. A lot of MLS guys have not experienced that.”

This has given media covering soccer more access.

“The anonymity of MLS players does have its advantages,” Calabro went on. “I think it would be different in the English Premier League. This is because of the examination that goes on every day on-and-off the pitch by newspapers, broadcasters and fans. I talked to Kasey (Keller) about this. The fact that these guys are recognizable on the street is not always a good thing.”

The speed, quickness and fitness levels of soccer players impressed Calabro. He was equally awed by the passionate ambiance in Seattle’s first two home games.

“The atmosphere certainly is quite different than anything I’ve seen,” Calabro said. “Those first two crowds reminded me of playoff games in the NBA. That was as good a sports experience as I’ve ever had on opening night in a long, long time. It was fabulous. Part of it was because I did not know what to expect. That was over-the-top terrific.”

Besides his play-by-play responsibilities for the Sounders, Calabro hosts a daily three hour radio show on Seattle’s newest all-sports station, 710AM ESPN Seattle, from 3-6 p.m.

He plans to cover the Sounders and soccer extensively. “Just by the sheer fact that I’m on the air and doing the broadcasts just about every day…I would be insane not to talk about it. It’s going to be a part of the daily discussion.”

Looking back at the loss of the NBA in Seattle, Calabro reminisced about his 21 years announcing Supersonics basketball and admitted to missing it.

He then quickly shifted the focus of the conversation back to the Sounders. “I think we are in a unique position here in Seattle, particularly for soccer fans,” Calabro said with vigor. “The Seattle soccer community has got its time, its showcase and its forum.”

Kevin Calabro’s daily sports show is streamed on 710 AM ESPN Seattle 3-6 p.m. Pacific and Sounders play-by-play at 97.3 KIRO FM.

John Zielonka is the Goal.com correspondent in Seattle. He can be reached at zielojo@seattlesoccer.us.