Rich Gannon to join Raiders preseason broadcast team

This year the Oakland Raiders are making plenty of changes to their broadcast team, and that also extends to the preseason television booth. While Lincoln Kennedy joined the radio team last week, another Raider legend is coming home as well. Today in a press release, the Raiders announced that former Raider great Rich Gannon will be calling the Raiders’ preseason games for television alongside incumbent announcers Beth Mowins and Matt Millen.

Gannon, of course, is no stranger to the television announce booth. He’s been calling NFL regular season games for CBS since 2005, and has been calling Green Bay Packers preseason games for some reason for the past several years. Gannon has also hosted a national radio show on Sirius XM.

“I am really looking forward to returning to Oakland to join my friends Beth Mowins and Matt Millen in the broadcast booth as we call Raider preseason games,” said Gannon. “It is both an honor and a privilege to join Beth and Matt and be associated with one of the finest organizations in all of professional sports. I am also looking forward to Coach Gruden’s return to the sidelines and the passion, energy, and professionalism which he’ll bring to all of Raider Nation!”

While JT the Brick will resume his duties as the TV sideline reporter, Chris Townsend will be the radio sideline guy. A veteran radio and television personality with two decades of broadcasting experience in the Bay Area, Townsend has been an integral part of the “Silver and Black Show” for the past two seasons, and has handled both pregame and postgame hosting duties for Raiders broadcasts. He also currently hosts Oakland Athletics pregame and postgame shows and has covered numerous Bay Area teams on both radio and television.

So while the Raiders are certainly moving forward when it comes to their broadcast teams in all forms of media, they are taking a “family first” approach in doing so. There will be new faces, but Raider legends and Raider history are everywhere.