Brendan Burke agrees to return for 9th season as Islanders' TV announcer
MSG announcer Brendan Burke works a game between the Islanders and the New Jersey Devils at UBS Arena on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022 in Elmont. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Brendan Burke has agreed to terms with MSG Networks to return as the lead play-by-play voice on Islanders games, Burke’s agent, Steve Herz, told Newsday on Wednesday.
The contract has not yet been signed but should be in the coming days. MSG declined to comment.
Burke, 40, is regarded as one of hockey’s best young announcers. He also works national games for TNT Sports.
With his contract up and other openings around hockey this offseason, it was not a slam dunk that he would return for a ninth season and beyond on Islanders games.
Burke had further leverage as a potential candidate for the Yankees' radio job vacated in April by John Sterling. He has done fill-in work for Yankees games on WFAN.
But Burke regards himself primarily as a hockey announcer, and now he will be able to retain his longtime local and national assignments in that sport.
Justin Shackil, Emmanuel Berbari and Rickie Ricardo have called most Yankees games this season since Sterling left.
The decision on an official successor to Sterling presumably will be made before the start of the 2025 season.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
