JP Dellacamera prepares for his final game as the Union’s local TV play-by-play voice

Dellcamera has called Union games since the team's first season. With Apple taking over Major League Soccer's rights next year, there won't be local broadcast crews anymore.

JP Dellacamera has been the Union's TV play-by-play broadcaster since the team's first season.Read moreFox Sports

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published Sep. 30, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET

There haven’t been many constants in the Union’s 13-year history.

The stadium name has changed. The grounds nearby have been renovated and built upon. There’s a new jersey every year. Coaches and GMs and countless players have come and gone, some illustriously and some barely known.

But in one important place, there’s been consistency since the team’s earliest days: the broadcast booth. Now it’s time for change to come there, too.

Either this weekend or next weekend, JP Dellacamera will call the play-by-play of a Union game on local TV for the final time. When Apple takes over Major League Soccer’s broadcast rights next year, all the game broadcasts will be like the NFL, with one production for everyone watching.

Dellacamera doesn’t know for certain when his Union finale will be, because the last game of the season on Oct. 9 could be flexed to national TV. If the Union are playing for the Supporters’ Shield, FS1 might take the game for its broadcast that day.

So Saturday’s game at Charlotte FC (5:30 p.m., PHL17) will likely be considered the sendoff.

“You want to be able to say thank you to everybody that’s been a part of this,” Dellacamera told The Inquirer. “We probably have to treat Saturday’s game as a finale and thank people, and then if we come back and do the last game, give them another thank you.”

The past and the future

He got the Union job in 2010 through a connection with then-CEO Sakiewicz, whom he knew from broadcasting the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (now called the Red Bulls) when Sakiewicz ran them in the early 2000s.

After Sakiewicz was ousted from the Union in 2015, Dellacamera wanted to stay here. He struck up a rapport with successor Tim McDermott, and it was an easy call for the team to keep him.

“Tim treated me as well as Nick did,” Dellacamera said. “My role has been the same for 13 years. Management has never bothered me with anything, they’ve only been encouraging and accommodating.”

As for the future, the 70-year-old said he’s had conversations with Apple, but doesn’t know if he’ll be part of their group. Overall, though, he’s far from done calling games.

With Fox Sports, Dellcamera will likely call a game or two in this year’s playoffs — potentially including the Union. Then he’ll go to the men’s World Cup in Qatar.

Next year, he’ll be Fox’s lead announcer at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, a role he’s held since 2015. He’s also on track to call games at the 2024 men’s European Championship, which will be Fox’s debut with the tournament. And on top of all that, he’s part of CBS’ group of NWSL game-callers.

“I would like to be the one, if I could, to say when I’m ready to walk away,” he said. “I would prefer that I make that decision while I still have something left, rather than have someone else make that decision for me. That’s the only goal that I would say I have left in this business.”

‘Simply the best’

Whenever the time comes, Dellacamera will leave an unmatched legacy. He’s the only person to have called games on every major U.S. broadcast network — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. He spent decades at ESPN before joining Fox in 2011. He even worked for Turner Sports when it had the Women’s United Soccer Association in 2001.

And he’s one of only three broadcasters to win the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s Colin José Award for lifetime achievement.

The upcoming men’s World Cup will be his 10th, and next year’s women’s World Cup will be his seventh. He has called U.S. men’s and women’s national team games, including some of the most famous: Paul Caligiuri’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1989 that ended the U.S. men’s team’s 40-year World Cup drought, and Brandi Chastain’s 1999 World Cup-winning penalty kick.

And he has called games in MLS, men’s indoor leagues, all three modern pro women’s leagues, the Olympics, the men’s UEFA Champions League, and leagues around the world for ESPN’s international division.

Along the way, he’s been a friend and mentor to broadcasters and print journalists alike, including the 13 people who’ve worked as color analysts on Union broadcasts.

“He made me feel comfortable while also teaching me the ‘right way’ to do things,” said Taylor Twellman, who called Union games in 2011 and is now ESPN’s lead soccer analyst. “The pregame meals, text, calls — I got a masters degree in broadcasting in four months.”

Alejandro Moreno, an original Union player in 2010, took over the chair in 2013 — only a few months after retiring from the field. He also went on to ESPN, and features regularly on game and studio broadcasts.

“Simply the best,” Moreno said. “A true professional and a mentor in every sense. Most of all a friend. … Proud to have worked with him and learned from him.”

They all still keep in touch.

“Full credit to them,” Dellcamera said, “that through repetition and their willingness to learn, they were able to really develop their craft the way that they have, where they became among the best in the business.”

Thanks for the fans

He especially cherishes his friendship with Tommy Smyth, the Union’s analyst from 2017-20 and a colleague for decades at ESPN.

“Out of all the analysts that I’ve ever worked with, Tommy’s the one that I’ve done the most games with, by far,” Dellacamera said. “I don’t even know who’s second on that list.”

He was just as complimentary of his current partner, Danny Higginbotham, who came aboard last year after moving here with his Philadelphia-born wife. Higginbotham gave up being one of the top Premier League game-callers for Sky Sports, and has treated Union games just as seriously and fairly.

“He is very analytical, very knowledgeable about the game, very good in his detailed explanation,” Dellacamera said. “Doesn’t dumb it down, but doesn’t go too extensive to where the average person doesn’t understand what he’s saying. He has the perfect mix of the way he analyzes things, and I think his future is extremely bright.”

And he praised the behind-the-scenes crews he’s worked with, including current game producer Jordan Strauss.

“He’s as good as anyone that’s producing in MLS today,” Dellacamera said. “Hopefully he’s a part of the Apple TV group.”

There’s one part of Dellacamera’s work with the Union that many fans don’t know: he has never lived in the Philadelphia area. Every time he calls a Union game, whether at Subaru Park or 6abc’s studios, he travels down from his home in Connecticut. It’s another sign of his commitment to the job.

“It’s been an amazing 13 years working with the Philadelphia Union,” he said. “To everyone connected with the team, the broadcast crew, and Union supporters, thank you for allowing me to be a part of the Union family all of these years.”