{"id":1876123,"date":"2026-04-10T15:51:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1876123"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:51:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:51:17","slug":"mark-jones-to-leave-espn-after-36-year-broadcasting-run-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1876123","title":{"rendered":"Mark Jones to leave ESPN after 36-year broadcasting run: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p>ESPN NBA and college football play-by-play announcer Mark Jones is leaving the network after more than three decades, sources briefed on the move told <em>The Athletic<\/em> on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Jones, 64, was once the network\u2019s No. 2 NBA play-by-player and called two Finals games when Mike Breen tested positive for COVID in 2022.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jones has moved down the NBA depth chart over the past few years behind Breen, Dave Pasch and Ryan Ruocco.<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-pickem\">\n<p>ESPN released a statement Friday thanking Jones for his work, but did not confirm publicly that he was leaving the network.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark has made an enduring impact at ESPN since 1990, serving as a signature voice primarily within our NBA and college football coverage and across nearly all of our platforms,\u201d ESPN said. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful for Mark\u2019s countless contributions and we wish him continued success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jones is not expected to retire, though his next steps are unclear. Besides his NBA work, Jones was a consistent presence on ESPN\u2019s college football presentation, including on the Pac-12 late-night action when the network carried those games.<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto native has also worked games for the Sacramento Kings as a local play-by-player, but the bulk of his career has been at ESPN\/ABC, where he has been a regular presence.<\/p>\n<p>Besides play-by-play, Jones has been a featured member on the network\u2019s studio coverage for the Finals, Draft Lottery, All-Star game and other big events.<\/p>\n<p>Jones\u2019 final game on ESPN will be Sunday evening when the Boston Celtics face the Orlando Magic. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ESPN NBA and college football play-by-play announcer Mark Jones is leaving the network after more than three decades, sources briefed on the move told The Athletic on Friday. Jones, 64, was once the network\u2019s No. 2 NBA play-by-player and called two Finals games when Mike Breen tested positive for COVID in 2022. Advertisement Jones has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1876123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1876123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1876123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1876123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1876123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}