Bucks Hire NBA's First Female PxP Announcer

Lisa Byington

The defending NBA champions announced the appointment of Lisa Byington as the team's television play-by-play announcer for games on Bally Sports Wisconsin.

The NBA reports the historic hiring makes Byington the first female full-time TV play-by-play announcer among major men's professional leagues.

"We are so excited to welcome Lisa to the Bucks family and to bring such a talented play-by-play announcer to our broadcast team," said Bucks and Fiserv Forum President Peter Feigin in the team's official release.

"Lisa's extensive television broadcasting background, including her play-by-play work for high-level NCAA basketball on several national networks, makes her the perfect choice to take on this major role. While we appreciate the significance of selecting Lisa, and we celebrate this historic moment, Lisa earned this position based on her extraordinary skills and experience. We look forward to Lisa becoming the voice of the Bucks."

I am honored, humbled, and beyond excited for this opportunity and to get this started! https://t.co/02CpAHcEQb

— Lisa Byington (@LisaByington) September 15, 2021

She replaces Jim Paschke, who retired at the end of the 2020-21 campaign after 35 seasons with the franchise.

A basketball and soccer player at Northwestern University, Byington is a veteran multi-sport play-by-play announcer and has prior experience in doing play-by-play for NBA and WNBA games.

She became the first full-time female play-by-play voice for a college football game on the Big Ten Network in 2017. That same year, she was also part of an MLS game broadcast that was the first all-female broadcast of any of the five major men's professional leagues.

Between 2017 and 2019, she worked as a sideline reporter for the NCAA men's basketball tournament on CBS and Turner Sports. Also in 2019, she worked the play-by-play for the Women's World Cup on FOX.