{
  "id": 14550822,
  "title": "Trail Blazers reportedly turn to Travis Demers as TV play-by-play voice on game-by-game basis",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/trail-blazers-reportedly-turn-to-travis-demers-as-tv-play-by-play",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-14T22:30:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/trail-blazers-reportedly-turn-travis-223006082.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Portland Trail Blazers have announced that Travis Demers will be their television play-by-play voice for the 2026-27 season, at least for now. Demers, who has been the team's radio play-by-play voice for the past seven seasons, will call the games on a game-by-game basis alongside color analyst Lamar Hurd and courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam. According to a league source cited by The Oregonian/OregonLive, the Blazers are keeping their options open and could potentially bring in a temporary play-by-play voice for a few games during the season to audition other broadcasters while still allowing Demers to call every game. This decision follows the team's rejection of Braiden Bell as their new television play-by-play voice earlier this month due to misogynistic and racist posts Bell had made on social media when he was a teenager. Bell has since apologized, stating that the posts were written 14 years ago and do not reflect his current character. The team has maintained zero tolerance for such behavior and has no plans to reconsider their decision.",
  "summary": "The Portland Trail Blazers have found their television play-by-play voice for the start of the 2026-27 season (for now, anyway). According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Travis Demers will be on the call on a game-by-game basis alongside color analyst Lamar Hurd and courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam. Demers has served as the Blazers’ radio play-by-play voice for…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}