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Bills, Broncos Present Jim Nantz With Memento Ahead of His Milestone 500th NFL Game

The announcer has seen everything in football.

Patrick Andres

Jim Nantz with Travis Kelce after the Chiefs' 22–19 overtime win over the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024.
Jim Nantz with Travis Kelce after the Chiefs' 22–19 overtime win over the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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On Oct. 16, 1988, the Indianapolis Colts topped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35–31 in a shootout. For CBS, ex-Los Angeles Rams quarterback Pat Haden handled color commentary... and a young announcer named Jim Nantz handled TV play-by-play duties for the first time.

Five hundred games later, Nantz is still standing. On Sunday, he will call his milestone 500th contest for CBS when the Denver Broncos visit the Buffalo Bills in an AFC wild-card game.

Ahead of Sunday, both the Broncos and Bills presented Nantz with footballs commemorating the occasion. Denver coach Sean Payton and Buffalo coach Sean McDermott were on hand for their teams' respective presentations.

Nantz—considered among the great North American sports announcers—has called the NBA, the NFL, college football, college basketball, golf, tennis, and the Olympics throughout his illustrious career.

He has been the National Sports Media Association's National Sportscaster of the Year five times, and was inducted into that association's Hall of Fame in 2021.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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