Bally Sports Florida drops Marlins TV analyst Todd Hollandsworth. Here’s the next step
Todd Hollandsworth’s five-year run as the Marlins’ television analyst ended Friday when Bally Sports Florida informed him that his contract will not be renewed.
“Bally Sports Florida has decided to explore new candidates for the Miami Marlins color analyst role,” the network said in a statement. “We thank Todd for his calls and contributions to our telecasts over the past five years and wish him the best of luck in the future.”
The network will retain Paul Severino as the team’s TV play-by-play voice.
Bally plans to conduct a nationwide search to replace Hollandsworth, who won a World Series as a Marlins outfielder in 2003, his only season with Miami during a 12-year big-league career.
Though it’s more likely that Bally Sports Florida will look to hire one person to work nearly the entire package of 162 Marlins telecasts alongside Severino, a strong case could be made for splitting the package between multiple game analysts, and that option has not been ruled out.
The Marlins tried that approach, with success, on radio this season, splitting analyst duties among Gaby Sanchez, J.P. Arencibia and Kelly Saco alongside one play-by-play announcer (Glenn Geffner or Dave Van Horne). All three analysts offered different perspectives.
Bally Sports Florida has final say on Marlins’ TV talent but consults with the team before making any decision.
For Hollandworth’s former job, there are six possible internal candidates who already do work for Bally: Tommy Hutton, Sanchez, Cliff Floyd, Jeff Nelson, Arencibia and Kelly Saco.
Hutton, 75, was the Marlins TV analyst from 1997 to 2015 before his contract was not renewed. He returned to Marlins broadcast three years later in a studio analyst role.
Hutton isn’t looking to do 162 games at this stage of his life but said “if Bally’s and the Marlins were interested in a veteran to fill in with a minimal schedule, I would take the phone call.”
Bally Sports Florida and the Marlins this year began a new multiyear contract that increased the team’s rights fee from $18 million or so annually to what is believed to be more than $50 million annually.
Though no final decisions have been made on the radio booth for 2022, Geffner’s package of games is expected to increase at least somewhat. He called about two-thirds of the games this past season.
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 4:27 PM.
