awfulannouncing
The Portland Trail Blazers have settled on a television play-by-play announcer for the beginning of the 2026-27 season—at least for now. Travis Demers will handle those duties on a game-by-game basis, as reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive, joining color analyst Lamar Hurd and courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam on the broadcasts.
Demers has been the radio play-by-play voice for the Trail Blazers over the past seven seasons and has occasionally stepped in on television. However, he shouldn't pack up his radio equipment just yet.
A league source informed The Oregonian that Demers might retain the role for the entire season, but the organization is preserving the option to continue exploring other candidates. Portland could potentially bring in a temporary play-by-play announcer for stretches of four or five games, according to the report, which would allow the team to evaluate other broadcasters while giving Demers some rest—though Demers could still end up calling every game.
This approach comes after the Blazers' previous television play-by-play hire unraveled in less than 24 hours earlier this month. On October 1, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reported that the team was preparing to name Braiden Bell as its new television play-by-play voice. Bell, a 29-year-old Arizona State graduate, had previously called college basketball on ESPN+ before working for the Phoenix Suns' G League affiliate and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
That same night, after KGW reporter Devon Haskins brought to light misogynistic and racist posts Bell had written on Twitter in 2012 and 2013, when he was a teenager, the Blazers announced they would not proceed with him. "The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments," the team said in a statement. "Social media posts made by our recently announced play-by-play broadcaster are in clear violation of team and league policies, as well as our values and expectations. Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster."
Bell later apologized, stating that the posts were written 14 years earlier, when he was 15, and did not reflect who he is today. On October 5, Bell's attorney, Arnie Herz, released a statement formally asking the Blazers to reconsider, arguing that Bell had taken ownership of the posts and should not be defined by words he wrote as a teenager. The team told The Athletic that it stood by its original statement and had no further comment.
The position became available when longtime play-by-play voice Kevin Calabro departed after nine seasons on the Blazers' television broadcast. Calabro left after receiving a low contract offer, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic in July, amid a series of cost-cutting moves under new owner Tom Dundon that affected the franchise's television and radio broadcast teams. Calabro, who previously spent 22 years calling Seattle SuperSonics games, has since joined the Minnesota Timberwolves' broadcast team for select games this season.
Portland opens its regular season against the Phoenix Suns on October 21, with Demers expected to be on the call.
Originally reported by awfulannouncing.