Unlike his last two New Years, Kenny Albert won’t have to travel far to call two games across two different sports.
In fact, he won’t have to travel at all.
Both of Albert’s assignments – start times 23 hours apart – this weekend are in Seattle. On Sunday, New Year’s Eve, he will be on the mic for FOX when the Seattle Seahawks host the Pittsburgh Steelers with both teams fighting for their postseason lives. He’ll ring in 2024 by trading pigskin for hockey sticks and call the Winter Classic between the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken on TNT.
“The stars aligned,” Albert told USA TODAY Sports.
Albert and analyst Eddie Olczyk form the top NHL announcing crew for Turner and have called the Winter Classic the last three years. The marquee game first fell on a Saturday and then on a Monday in back-to-back years, creating a harried travel schedule for Albert.
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Two years ago, Albert was in Minnesota on a Saturday and had his NFL assignment in Indianapolis the next day. Last year, he was in Detroit on Sunday before the Winter Classic in Boston on Monday.
“So it’s great to not have any worries this year,” Albert said.
When the NFL schedule came out this year, Albert quickly circled the Seattle-Pittsburgh matchup and relayed the preference to his bosses at FOX. Of course, there was the chance the game could have been flexed to another network at this point in the season. But Albert knew he wanted that game, because the other five NFL games on the network that Sunday are mostly on the East Coast, with the next closest being in Houston.
“I’m looking forward to the next couple of years when the calendar shifts and January first will be mid-week,” Albert said. “That will certainly help, as far as logistics.”
His logistics for this weekend, however, are relatively simple. Albert arrived in Seattle on Thursday and headed to the Seahawks facility to meet with the team Friday. A production dinner with the crew and partner Jonathan Vilma took place that night. Saturday involved back and forth between the two assignments. He went to T-Mobile Park, home of MLB’s Seattle Mariners, to check out the landscape for the Winter Classic. He met with his TNT crew and the NHL teams at their hotels, and he capped the night with a NFL production meeting.
On Sunday, he’ll leave for Lumen Field at 10 a.m. local time, call the football game and then head to a 6:30 p.m. production dinner and meeting with TNT executives and teammates. Albert said he’ll likely stay up for West Coast midnight since his body should be adjusted by that point, but it’s another early start the next day.
“I think you have to be really organized,” Albert said of calling different sports hardly a day apart.
Albert prepares the same checklist for every game no matter the sport. It involves lots of reading, preparing charts, watching both teams’ previous games and going through statistics. The checklist used to be on paper, but now it’s on his iPhone. He checks off the columns as he works, and that often all takes place in planes and hotels.
“I’m pretty used to it I guess, at this point,” said Albert, who calls MLB games for FOX, is the New York Rangers’ radio announcer and fills in on Knicks local broadcasts.
“I tend to get more work done the busier I am,” he added. “The brain just adjusts.”
Albert’s memoir, ‘A Mic For All Seasons,’ came out earlier this year and offered reflections on his often-hectic schedule and the techniques of calling various sports within short timespans.
This weekend, Albert said, it’s everything he can ask for as a broadcaster: a meaningful December NFL contest and a marquee, outdoor hockey game.
“It’s a great city,” Albert said, “and it should be a terrific weekend out there.”