Union announce new primary broadcast team for 2021
Color commentator Tommy Smyth is being replaced with Danny Higginbotham
Big changes are coming to the Philadelphia Union broadcast booth next season. Color commentator Tommy Smyth, who has been calling games since 2017, will not be returning for 2021. Instead, the Union announced recently that former Premiere League player and soccer analyst Danny Higginbotham will call games in 2021 and 2022.
Smyth has been known for some of his one liners, and even has fans putting a “droop in the ol onion bag” after every Union goal. Union fans, who have a SirusXM subscription, will still be able to hear Smyth. As he has a daily show on the satellite radio’s soccer channel SirusXM FC. The daily show, Grumpy Pundits, broadcasts from 9 a.m. to Noon.
As far as the new primary color analyst, Higginbotham has called games for Sky Sports, NBC, CBS, and ESPN. He also is a former player who spent time with Derby County, Sunderland, Stoke City, Southampton and Manchester United.
“Danny has a way of calling the game that will introduce an innovative, tactical style of analysis that our fans crave,” Union’s Chief Marketing Officer Doug Vosik said in a news release. “Paired with his broadcasting and playing experience at the highest levels of international soccer, Danny’s addition is another example of the Union being a forward-thinking club.”
Higginbotham joins JP Dellacamera as the Union’s primary broadcast team for 2021.
On the new color commentator, Dellacamera said “In 11 seasons of calling Union soccer games I have worked with some great analysts as well as great people. I have no doubt that in 2021, Danny Higginbotham will fall into both of those categories.”
Let us know in the comment section what you think of the changes to the broadcast team.