The inside story of legendary broadcaster Pat Foley’s retirement and final season with the Blackhawks

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 18: Chicago Blackhawks announcer Pat Foley attends Chicago's Celebratory Parade & Rally Honoring The 2015 Stanley Cup Champions, The Chicago Blackhawks on June 18, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.  (Photo by Timothy Hiatt/WireImage)
By Scott Powers
Feb 24, 2022

Pat Foley is the last of the group to arrive at Omega, a 24-hour restaurant in Niles, Ill., on a recent Saturday morning. Chicago Blackhawks president of business operations Jaime Faulkner and vice president of communications Adam Rogowin are already situated in a corner booth.

Immediately, everyone’s attention turns to the cast on Foley’s right pinky.

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“I broke it falling off a bar stool,” Foley says with a laugh. “No, I wish I had a better story.”

Foley went on to explain he broke his finger accidentally grabbing for something and jamming it into a desk. It happened at the beginning of a recent golf trip and it kept him from playing the rest of the week.

The mood is light between Foley, Faulkner and Rogowin. This isn’t Foley being dragged into public, as some might assume to be the case. The trio has been meeting at Omega for breakfast since May 2021, just after the 2020-21 season ended. Over eggs and waffles, they’ve used their meetings to, at first, discuss Foley’s future with the organization, then to coordinate his final season as the team’s TV play-by-play broadcaster, and, more recently, his potential replacements.

On this occasion, they’ve invited a reporter to join them. The Blackhawks have been silent on many topics, including the future of their radio and TV broadcasting teams, and lately, since resolving the lawsuits against them, they’ve been trying to be more transparent about what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Foley, of course, has been a major talking point among fans ever since he and the Blackhawks announced in June that this will be his final season. Foley provided his own statement in the news release about his reasons for stepping away, but that did little to cease speculation about why he may “really” be retiring. Plenty of fans wondered if the organization felt Foley had needed to apologize one too many times for an insensitive comment on the air. Foley’s infrequency calling games this season, along with the unfamiliarity of many of the people auditioning to replace him, has only increased many fans’ frustration.

Faulkner is well aware of that frustration. She hasn’t ignored fans’ voices in all this, even if she may want to at times. She dives into social media and elsewhere to gather feedback about the Blackhawks’ broadcasting situation. The organization has also requested fans’ input through surveys. With all that, she’s read plenty of fans’ criticism of how things have been handled.

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Late into the breakfast on this morning, Foley joked, “By next Christmas, nobody will remember my name, don’t worry.”

Faulkner responded: “I don’t believe that. I don’t think that will be the case; I’ll still be getting yelled at on the concourse.”

The marquee question for a lot of fans regarding Foley’s exit is whether he’s being forced out. Is this about Foley’s “bullet in my head” remark late last season? Is this a new CEO, Danny Wirtz, and president of business, Faulkner, trying to put their original stamp on the Blackhawks? Is this about going for a younger and hipper broadcaster?

“The last thing I wanted to do was to start as the team president and have to figure out how to replace the best broadcaster in the NHL,” Faulkner said. “And that’s not what I thought we would be working on. But we are where we are. It’s even harder because I think your calls (looking at Foley) are so good this year, too. The rest of it is noise. I appreciate how passionate the fans are. I have to respect that, and we owe it to them to try to find somebody who can eventually maybe even be as good as Pat, and make sure that the new people we bring in, you know, aren’t crushed on Twitter and social media, quite honestly.

“But it’s frustrating. They’re gonna make assumptions that we haven’t been able to talk to the media about. Absent of that, they’re going to come up with their own narrative. We still think Pat’s great. I’m not worried about any reference, like saying things on air. Like we’re human, people are gonna say stuff. That’s not who he is; we know who he is.”

Foley had little to add. He replied, “Look, people are going to decide what they decide.”

Pat Foley was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014. (Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Foley didn’t shy away from any questions, but there were times he expounded more on some answers than others. Most importantly, when it came to why he was retiring and hadn’t called more games this season, he was open and thorough about explaining the reasons. Although Faulkner began to address that at the recent town hall, everyone involved seemed to understand the value of fans hearing from Foley himself.

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Where the story begins is with Faulkner being hired as president of business operations and starting to assess the Blackhawks’ radio and TV broadcasts. With Foley’s contract expiring at the end of the 2021-22 season, she wondered what he thought about his own future.

“And I said, I don’t know,” said Foley, who turned 67 in December. “I got another year of my contract. I intend to live up to that. And they said, what about after that? I said, look, it wouldn’t even be fair for me to try to answer that question. I just came off maybe the easiest year you could have in the sense of no travel, I only got to pay attention to seven teams. So I said to them, next year, assuming we’re back to right, I’m traveling, I got 70 or 82 games, whatever the number is, and I’ve got to broadcast for a bunch of teams I haven’t seen play for two years. That’s going to be a lot of work. As an example, the next game I work is going to be Friday. I haven’t seen New Jersey play in two years.

“I just said, I don’t have an answer for you. And they immediately said, we got to plan ahead then. We don’t want to get caught. And I think right away, you guys said, we’re going to use this season as a transitional year. So, that’s how it shook down.”

Foley still loves the job. He said that on this day, and it’s apparent in his broadcasts. There’s still that energy and excitement in his calls. Faulkner described Foley’s broadcasts as possessing a “magic” to them. If she steps away from the TV and can still hear Foley’s voice, she can feel exactly what’s happening in the game. As she’s listened to more and more hockey broadcasts over the past year, she recognizes how rare that ability is.

From an ability standpoint, Foley doesn’t doubt he can still hang with the best of them. As he said, “I still got my fastball.” But as Foley knows, the job is much more than simply showing up and calling a game. It’s preparing for every opponent. It’s traveling at all times of day. It’s broadcasting 82 games. It’s the grind of an NHL season.

Foley enjoyed minimizing that grind last season. The job was easier, and in some ways more enjoyable, traveling less and having fewer opponents to broadcast. It’s what gave him pause when the Blackhawks came to him about his future. As he’s gone through this season and again stepped back from his usual workload, he’s come to the full realization that grind isn’t for him any longer.

With the end now nearing, Foley was asked if he was ready to step away.

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Foley replied: “That’s a good question. It’s fair.”

Faulkner said, “We ask him at every breakfast.”

Foley then said: “I think the thing that I learned from this year is that — I really hate to admit it — I don’t think I can do the grind. I don’t think I can do 82 games. I don’t want to admit that, but I think I have to say that. And again, I have said to these guys, in my opinion, the way to do this properly is to do them all. Like I mean, I’m gonna do Friday’s game. I haven’t done a game for three weeks. And I’ll say this, this is only from me, but I don’t really feel part of it, not the way I should. I’m not on the plane with the guys. I’m not traveling. It’s different, and I don’t know if it’s better. And I think I can still do the job and all that. And, look, I’d rather leave too soon than too late, you know, rather not get kicked out.”

Throughout their discussions with Foley, the Blackhawks felt it vital to be honest and show him the respect he earned by being the team’s longest-tenured broadcaster. Foley said he never expected so much communication during the process. Faulkner and Rogowin may have been the ones meeting Foley for breakfast, but Danny Wirtz and chairman Rocky Wirtz were also in the loop and had their clear instructions, too.

“Well, first and foremost, before we sat down with Pat to have the conversation on his contract, we talked with Danny and Rocky,” Faulkner said. “And it’s very emotional for Danny, because he will say, ‘Pat is the only voice I’ve ever known for Blackhawks hockey.’ And so the Wirtzes, Rocky and Danny, were like, ‘Whatever happens, we need to make sure we take care of Pat like he’s taken take care of us. We have to do this in the right way.’ So, in order to do that, we have to start sitting down and having conversations about what it looks like.

“So from the very top, it was, ‘Do this in the right way, do it aboveboard.’ And if the answer is we’re not doing the extension, then make sure that everybody’s part of the process on how we go forward. So as soon as we got the COVID restrictions lifted, we started meeting, and this is our breakfast spot.”

Foley’s schedule this season was created with his input. The Blackhawks wanted to bring in a number of people to audition, but they also sought to give Foley plenty of games, too. He planned some personal trips around the season and to be away during the Olympics. The NHL would have officially started up this Friday if its players had gone to the Olympics, so that’s why Foley’s first game back is Friday. Positive COVID-19 cases among other broadcasters also altered his schedule.

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“We were working so hard on Pat’s schedule in these early breakfasts, and I remember, Pat, you apologized to me. We were kind of going over the dates that work for you, and I said, ‘Pat, come on, I’ll do anything for you, this is easy for me,’” Rogowin said. “But I guess some of that — you call it noise — when Pat isn’t in the seat, for people to immediately go to, ‘You’re keeping him out, you’re kicking him out.’ No one’s going to ever understand the process, the effort we put in making sure we do right by Pat this season.”

Foley has heard that plenty of fans have been asking why he hasn’t done more games this season.

“Some of that is on me,” Foley said. “At some point, I probably will apologize because, you know, I’ll only end up doing half the games.”

Foley will call 13 of the Blackhawks’ remaining 29 games this season. Five of those games are national broadcasts and wouldn’t have a local broadcast team anyway. If you want to bookmark this, here are Foley’s remaining scheduled games:

  • Feb. 25
  • Feb. 27
  • March 3
  • March 6
  • March 8
  • March 15
  • March 19
  • March 20
  • March 28
  • April 3
  • April 10
  • April 12
  • April 14

The other remaining TV broadcasts this season will be called by a variety of people, likely including the person who will be named Foley’s permanent replacement. Faulkner said they’re close to making that decision. She anticipated the organization will name a new general manager first, and then the TV play-by-play broadcaster.

“But I would hope that the fans would expect that we put the work in to replace Pat Foley,” Faulkner said. “We owe that to them. It’s not easy to replace Pat Foley, and we’ve put the work in to do it. I just hope when we transition the mic, so to speak, that the fans will be patient and be more positive and accepting of what the future looks like.”

Pat Foley has been a fan favorite throughout his time with the Blackhawks. (Eliot J. Schechter / NHLI via Getty Images)

Foley’s contract isn’t the only one expiring after this season. His TV partner, Eddie Olczyk, and the radio broadcasting team, John Wiedeman and Troy Murray, are also up after the year. Faulkner firmly stated she planned for the latter three to be back.

“Eddie’s part of our future; John and Troy are staying with us,” Faulkner said. “So now, it’s figuring out how to fit all the other pieces in.”

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Wiedeman, the radio play-by-play announcer, did fill in for Foley this season and was assumed to be a candidate, but Faulkner said they have other plans on how to utilize Wiedeman.

“John is so good on radio,” Faulkner said. “The other thing, it’s interesting for, I think, most of our broadcasting teams, that’s all they did. We didn’t have them interacting with our season-ticket holders, getting them onto podcasts. We weren’t using them across content. We want to use John Wiedeman across content, too. I don’t just want him to be calling radio games. That gives us the opportunity to bring other people in to call radio, and then we can use him during games to do other things. So we’ve talked a lot about how whoever sits in the booth, whether it’s the radio booth, the TV booth, the podcast booth, the studio, I said that we’re gonna use across all of our content channels and interacting with fans.”

Faulkner said they were considering at one point to hire multiple broadcasters to replace Foley, but they’ve scrapped that plan due to the feedback they’ve received from Foley, Olczyk and fans. Former NHL broadcaster Ralph Strangis, who was hired by the Blackhawks as a consultant, has also been thoroughly involved in the transition process.

“I think what I learned is that, over time, the GMs change, the coaches change, the players change, the broadcasting team doesn’t change,” Faulkner said. “So the fans have developed a relationship with Pat and Eddie that they trust as the consistent voice. So, whereas we went in and thought, ‘Oh, we’ll add variety, we’ll have maybe multiple teams sitting in a seat,’ I think what we’ve learned from listening to our fans, really listening to Pat and Eddie, is we need to get somebody. Eddie’s very much part of the future. We want to get him a partner that can be consistent day in and day out. We might have to flex on that because Eddie doesn’t call all the games either because he’s doing national work. But they are the consistent voice, and that’s why people care. So we need to actually get somebody in there that can build that relationship with them. And Pat was telling us that from the beginning, but I think we had to learn that.”

Foley has been assisting Faulkner and Rogowin with their search and said he’s appreciated having that type of say. Again, it’s not what he expected.

Foley played down his own opinion, but he obviously brings an experienced set of eyes and ears to the evaluation.

“Well, I’m no different than a fan,” Foley said. “I mean, I listen to games, and I have an opinion about who does it well and who might not, and that’s fine. I’m no different than you or any fan, so it doesn’t mean I’m right. But look, you and I can listen to the same game and I could love this person and you could say, ‘What a waste of time,’ you know, so it’s all speculative and personal. It’s not necessarily a right answer. What do you feel? What do you think? So, that’s good.”

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There is one aspect of the job Foley doesn’t have — or plan to have — any knowledge in: social media. The Blackhawks like that Jason Ross Jr., Stephen Nelsen and Chris Vosters, among others, are active on social media. Part of Faulkner’s mission was to envision what could attract the next generation of fans.

Foley isn’t about to create a Twitter, Instagram or TikTok account.

“Look, I have to admit that the role that I have, the job that I have, going ahead now, they want social media to be a big part of that,” Foley said. “I think you’re well aware, I don’t do social media. And, listen, even for this year now, they brought some people in to work on that kind of stuff. God bless them. They didn’t try to make me do it, and I appreciate that because, you know, it would have been a fight. They knew it would have been a fight, so they didn’t even go there, and that’s pretty cool. Going ahead here now, that’s going to be a part of the deal. That’s not a good fit for Uncle Pat.”

Faulkner was hopeful Foley would continue to have some role in the organization. She mentioned a few times during the breakfast about having Foley call the occasional game if he was interested.

“I don’t think it’s the end, like he may or may not call any games for us next year, unless I can convince you to come in and call some games,” Faulkner said. “But fans, our partners, would love to golf with him, to have him out at games. He’s still very much part of the Blackhawks organization. He’ll probably be in a different role.”

Foley was noncommittal as of now about that possibility.

“Well, as far as that, there’s been real general conversation about doing something down the line here, and it’s very nebulous,” Foley said. “I don’t think there’s an answer to that because there’s no definition to it. So we’ll see where it goes.”

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For now, Foley will focus on the games he has scheduled for the remainder of the season. He has a special guest for at least one game, and he’ll work most of the games with Olczyk.

Foley’s final scheduled game will be April 14. The Blackhawks plan to honor him that day, too. Foley hasn’t thought too much about the future, but he was willing to try to put into words what calling 39 seasons of the Blackhawks has met to him.

“I say ‘lucky’ all the time,” Foley said. “I’ve always felt that. Again, this is a dream I’ve had since I was 10 years old sitting in the booth with Jack Quinlan. So, I feel very lucky this worked out, by the way, at home. Are you kidding me? It doesn’t happen like that. Nobody in our business, yeah, very few people get to work this long at home. So having my family be able to enjoy whatever residuals there are, you know, that kind of thing, I’ve been very lucky, very blessed.

“And I’m proud of the fact that when I’m done, I’ll be the longest-tenured Blackhawks announcer, for sure. I mean, I’ve more than doubled Lloyd Pettit. And I always defer to Lloyd Pettit, he’s the man. So I’m proud of all that.

“I don’t have a lot more to give you than that. Other than just, I’ll say this: I’m a Chicago guy, a Glenview guy. When I got fired, went to the (Chicago) Wolves, got brought back, so I changed jobs twice, I still live in the same dump that I bought in 1984. I got the same (home) that I’ve been in. So again, just fortunate, and Chicago has been good to me, and I hope I’ve lived up to my end of the bargain.”

To the Blackhawks, he has and will always have a special place in the organization.

“Going back to Rocky’s words,” Faulkner said, “Pat Foley is part of the Blackhawks family, whether you are sitting in that chair or you’re sitting in a seat. … He’s always going to be part of the Blackhawks family. We will still be having breakfast here this time next year, might still be convincing you to try to call a game. Actually, I won’t be. You’ll be somewhere warm for the winter.”

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Foley laughed and said, “Yeah, it won’t be in February. That’s for sure.”

Faulkner responded: “I’ll be having breakfast wherever you are that’s going to be warmer. But we’re gonna try to get as much Pat as we can, in any way that we can. The fans expect that, I think they would love that. It’s just going to look a little bit different than it has for the last 39 years. But that’s OK.”

Foley closed the breakfast with this: “Listen, it’s gonna be different. It’s gonna be weird. But this year has already been weird. And next year, it’ll be weirder. You know, it is what it is. Nothing in life is perfect. This has been a pretty good ride, so I got no complaints.”

(Top photo: Timothy Hiatt / WireImage)

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Scott Powers

Scott Powers is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Blackhawks. Previously, he covered the Blackhawks and the White Sox for ESPN Chicago. He has also written for the Daily Herald and the Chicago Sun-Times and has been a sportswriter in the Chicagoland area for the past 15 years. Follow Scott on Twitter @byscottpowers