New York City FC will take an unprecedented step in local pro-soccer with their matches airing on WFAN — and now, we know the voices which will drive the game home.
Broadcasters Tom Kolker, Glenn Crooks and ESPN Deportes own Roberto Abramowitz will be handling announce duties on the season. Kolker will provide play-by-play for the English broadcasts alongside Crooks, who will handle in-game analysis and color commentary. The Spanish broadcasts, which will air on WADO 1260, will be led by veteran soccer voice, Abramowitz.
The first match of the new season kicks off on March 8th when NYCFC take on fellow expansion side Orlando City on the road. NYCFC’s home opener follows on March 15th at Yankee Stadium against Eastern Conference Final winners, the New England Revolution.
Here are the bios for the new announce team:
Tom Kolker Bio
For the past three years, Kolker has been a play-by-play voice of Georgetown University, as well as a play-by-play voice for the Big East Digital Network and Barclays Center “Brooklyn Hoops” college basketball broadcast. In addition, Kolker is the Broadcast Manager for the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, where he produces the Brooklyn Nets Radio broadcast and is a liaison between the Nets and their broadcasting partner, YES Network. A native of Washington, D.C. Kolker graduated from The George Washington University in 2005.
Glenn Crooks Bio
Glenn spent 14-years as head coach for women’s soccer at Rutgers University where he trained two Olympians, Carli Lloyd (Gold Medal, USA) and Jonelle Filigno (Bronze Medal, Canada). In all, Glenn served as a head coach on the D-1 collegiate level for 22 years where he started programs at St. Peter’s University and Long Island University-Brooklyn. In addition, he coached 10 years at his alma mater, Ridge High School, NJ, where he is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame. Currently, he is a Head Coach at the Players Development Academy and the New Jersey Olympic Development Program. A US Soccer “B” license coach, he has been a soccer commentator for the Big Ten Network, FIOS1 Sports, and Sky Blue FC. He is a contributing writer for Soccer News Net and Our Game Magazine and is also the Coach Advisor for Polar Electro based in Lake Success, NY.
Roberto Abramowitz Bio
He’s been covering sports, especially soccer, for almost 35 years in New York City either on TV, radio, the web or print. He started his love affair for the “beautiful sport” while growing up in Mexico City. Roberto was hired as the color commentator (in English) for the New York Arrows indoor soccer team for their first season in 1978. Roberto later switched to print as a sports reporter for the new Spanish language daily, Noticias del Mundo in 1980. In 1983 he was hired away by El Diario/La Prensa as Sports Editor, all the while covering the New York Cosmos as a beat reporter in their heyday. For over 20 years Roberto has voiced a multitude of sports as a play-by-play announcer or as a color commentator including NFL (Sunday and Monday Night Football) NBA and WNBA basketball, NHL hockey and international soccer among others. At the same time (1994) in New York he became part of the broadcast crew of the Spanish language broadcasts of the New York Knicks on Radio WADO and MSG via SAP. In 2012 Roberto was named sole announcer for Thursday Night Football broadcasts in Spanish (via SAP) on NFL Network and CBS (2014). Roberto also launched one of the most popular sports websites in the world as the founding Editor-in-Chief of www.
espndeportes.com in 2001.
