Former Alabama football announcer Eli Gold named Voice of the Nashville Kats

Since 1988, legendary broadcaster Eli Gold has been known as the Voice of Alabama football. The 70-year old announcer parted ways with Alabama a few days ago, after the University decided to not bring him back for another year. It didn’t take him long at all to find a new job.

On Friday, Gold was named as the Voice of the Nashville Kats–a team in the Arena Football League.

Gold was the voice for Alabama football for 35 years, calling seven national championship games, 11 SEC Championship games, and 35 bowl games. “It is an honor and privilege for the Kats to have the legendary Eli Gold be our voice and part of our franchise in multiple ways,” said Nashville Kats CEO Tamara Dadd Alan, an Alabama alumnus.

Gold has won an extensive amount of hardware throughout his Hall of Fame career, including Alabama Sportscaster of the Year four times. He’s also been named Alabama Sportscaster of the Year by the Associated Press twice.

The Kats will play 10 regular-season games this year with five home games at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Their season opener versus the Minnesota Myth is slated for Saturday, April 27th. The Kats also play the Georgia Force on Saturday, May 18th at F&M Bank Arena (Clarksville, Tennessee).

Former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher is the Partner and President of Football Operations for the Nashville Kats. The team named AFL veteran Dean Cokinos as their head coach.

Crimson Tide Sports Network Issues Statement on Eli Gold

On Thursday, CTSN released a statement regarding the parting of ways with Gold. They say Gold was offered the opportunity to remain and still call Alabama games on occasion. However, he declined and the broadcast will be “best served” by Chris Stewart on a full-time basis.

“As we noted in yesterday’s release, Eli Gold has been a legendary broadcaster in a career spanning 52 years,” the statement said. “In 2023, we worked out a plan to have Eli call the home games plus Auburn, with Chris Stewart handling away games. We are incredibly appreciative of the positive things Eli has contributed to the Crimson Tide Sports Network and The University of Alabama during his time with us, which is why our desire was for him to remain part of the gameday broadcast and allow us to celebrate his UA broadcast career.

“But at this point, the interests of UA and CTSN are best served by Chris Stewart handling play-by-play for all games. After a series of conversations over a period of time, Eli was presented with an opportunity to continue his contributions to the CTSN broadcast team in the coming years in a more limited role, including the lead broadcast role for this year’s A-Day game. Unfortunately, he declined the opportunity.

“We will always appreciate Eli and wish him nothing but the best in his next endeavors. We are incredibly excited about the future of CTSN and what Chris Stewart will bring to the broadcasts in his new role.”

On3’s Griffin McVeigh also contributed to this article.