Arlo White
White in 2011
Born
Arlo James White

(1973-06-02) 2 June 1973 (age 50)
Leicester, England
NationalityEnglish
OccupationBroadcaster
Children2

Arlo James White (born 2 June 1973) is an English sports presenter and commentator, originally from Leicester. He is the play-by-play commentator for the LIV Golf league. White previously worked for NBC Sports' live coverage of the Premier League in the United States as their lead play-by-play commentator, BBC Radio 5 Live as a football, cricket, and American football commentator, and for the Seattle Sounders FC and Chicago Fire FC of Major League Soccer.

Career

Early career

White began broadcasting at the age of 27, after gaining experience covering non-league football for Radio Derby and also while travelling in Australia.

BBC Radio

After joining the BBC in 2001, White presented Five Live's Sport on Five and was Five Live Breakfast's sports reporter between 2002 and 2005.[1]

He commentated on Super Bowl XLII for Radio 5 Live in February 2008.

Test Match Special

White made his Test Match Special debut in Multan for the first Test match between Pakistan and England in 2005.[1] He was presented with his TMS tie by Vic Marks during the first day's play and was reported to be "pleased to survive his commentary spells with Geoffrey Boycott".[1]

He commentated on England's Ashes tour of Australia 2006–07, and in 2007 the Cricket World Cup, the West Indies and India tours of England, as well as the World Twenty20 (including the final).

Major League Soccer

White became the sole commentator for the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer at the start of the 2010 season.[2] He became acquainted with the team's broadcasting executive, Brian O'Connell, during his tenure at the BBC covering the Super Bowl and was hired after Kevin Calabro had departed from his role during the Sounders' inaugural season.[3] White had substituted for Calabro for a regular season match against the Houston Dynamo in July 2009.[2] He briefly returned to the BBC to join their coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[4]

On 11 March 2012, White became the play-by-play commentator for all MLS and US National Team games on NBC and NBC Sports Network.[5] He was recommended for the role by MLS commissioner Don Garber.[3] As part of his duties for NBC, he was the lead football play-by-play commentator at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where he commentated on all of the matches for the US women's national team.[3]

On 3 March 2020, White became the play-by-play commentator for the Chicago Fire during the offseason.[6] He was retained by the club in 2022 after joining LIV Golf, despite controversy surrounding the golf tournament and its backers.[7]

Premier League

When NBC acquired the rights to the Premier League in 2013, White was moved from MLS broadcasts to become the network's lead Premier League voice, based in the United Kingdom.[3][8] His co-commentators are either Lee Dixon or Graeme Le Saux or (for certain fixtures) both. He returned to MLS for several playoff matches, but moved to commentating Premier League matches full-time in 2014.[9]

White has also worked as a substitute host for Rebecca Lowe on NBC's Match of the Day, Premier League Live and other studio shows.

Starting with the 2022–2023 season, Peter Drury replaced him as NBC's lead commentator for their coverage of the Premier League.[10]

Other work

White appears as himself in several episodes of the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, commentating on the show's fictional team AFC Richmond's matches.[11] It follows an earlier appearance in one of the NBC Sports short promotional videos that inspired the series.[12]

Golf

White is the first ever voice of the LIV Golf tour.[13]

Personal life

White was named after American folk singer Arlo Guthrie.[14] He is the father of twin daughters, who were born in 2007.[15] White was born in Leicester and is a lifelong fan of local club Leicester City, who won the Premier League title in 2015–16 with him on call.[3] White is also a fan of the NFL's Chicago Bears and MLB's Chicago Cubs, having first visited the city in 1986 as a 13-year-old.[16] He is also a self-described Americanophile.[3][17]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Arlo White". Test Match Special. BBC Sport. 30 October 2006. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  2. ^ a b Romero, José Miguel (9 February 2010). "BBC vet Arlo White, 36, to succeed Kevin Calabro as Sounders FC play-by-play broadcaster". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Leicester's hometown broadcaster Arlo White is at a loss for words". The Salt Lake Tribune. Associated Press. 16 April 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  4. ^ Mayers, Joshua (7 June 2010). "Sounders FC broadcaster Arlo White will announce World Cup games for BBC". The Seattle Times. p. C9. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  5. ^ Borg, Simon (30 November 2011). "NBC hires Seattle's Arlo White as voice of soccer". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  6. ^ Brian, Sandalow (3 March 2020). "Fire announce Arlo White joining broadcast team". chicago.suntimes.com. Sun-Times Media Group. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  7. ^ Sandalow, Brian (2 July 2022). "Fire explain reason for keeping Arlo White". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  8. ^ Borden, Sam (12 August 2015). "Soccer Broadcaster Pairs Proper English Accent With Unbridled American Verve". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  9. ^ Tannenwald, Jonathan (7 November 2013). "Catching up with NBC's Arlo White". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  10. ^ Deitsch, Richard (31 May 2022). "Peter Drury to Replace Arlo White as NBC's lead Premier League announcer: Source". The Athletic. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  11. ^ Greene, Steve (9 October 2020). "'Ted Lasso': Apple's Feel-Good Hit Also Has Some Timely Sports Crowd Noise Lessons". IndieWire. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  12. ^ Malone, Michael (14 August 2020). "How 'Ted Lasso' Went From NBC Sports to Apple TV+". NextTV.com. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  13. ^ Vertelney, Seth (7 June 2022). "Who is Arlo White? And why is he a surprise announcer for controversial Saudi-backed LIV golf tour?". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  14. ^ Gallone, Jill (21 January 2014). "Derby football reporter Arlo White: How American dream became a reality". Archived from the original on 22 January 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  15. ^ Mountford, Adam (19 July 2007). "New TMS producer signs on". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
  16. ^ What Goes into Calling an MLS Match? A Day in the Life of Soccer Announcer Arlo White, retrieved 15 October 2023
  17. ^ Rosenthal, Phil (3 September 2019). "Arlo White is the voice of the Premier League on NBC. And although he's from England, he's a die-hard Cubs and Bears fan". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
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