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The Denver Broncos and 9News announced their preseason broadcast team Monday, with a change to their play-by-play and color commentary team from a year ago.
Ron Zappolo - a 36-year vet of the Denver news scene - will provide play-by-play coverage of the Broncos' four preseason games, the team announced. Broncos greats John Lynch and Alfred "Big Al" Williams will provide color commentary for three games and one game respectively.
| All times Mountain | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk | Day | Date | Opponent | Time | TV | Play-by-play | Color commentary | |
| 1 | Thu | Aug 7 |  |
Seattle Seahawks | 7:00 pm | KUSA-TV (NBC) | Ron Zappolo | John Lynch |
| 2 | Sun | Aug 17 |  |
at San Francisco 49ers | 2:00 pm | KUSA-TV (NBC) | Ron Zappolo | Alfred Williams |
| 3 | Sat | Aug 23 |  |
Houston Texans | 7:00 pm | KUSA-TV (NBC) | Ron Zappolo | John Lynch |
| 4 | Thu | Aug 28 |  |
at Dallas Cowboys | 6:00 pm | KUSA-TV (NBC) | Ron Zappolo | John Lynch |
Lynch has proven to be a good commentary man during his time with FOX Sports; he and Kevin Burkhardt called three of the Broncos' preseason games a year ago, and even passed over other longtime FOX Sports broadcast teams to call the Seahawks-Saints divisional playoff game this past January. "Big Al" previously called two preseason games for the Broncos back in 2011, so he's not entirely new to the scene.
Still, the big news for me is the addition of Zappolo. Historically, Broncos preseason game broadcasts have been rife with mispronunciations and play-by-play foul-ups. Preseason is about Broncos football, down to the nitty-gritty, something previous play-by-play announcers didn't grasp (though, to be fair, I don't recall how Buckhardt did a year ago).
Hopefuly the addition of a passionate Denver sports vet like Zappolo is a change for the better.