The tightrope of live broadcasts: no second takes
Calling March Madness is part chaos, part craft. With up to four games in a single day, there’s little time to second-guess or recalibrate, and in a single elimination tournament with 68 teams, there’s no way to know everything about every team and player. For Eagle, the magic is in the moment.
“You don’t get to re-rack the tape. It’s one take. And I like that—you’re on a tightrope without a protective net.”
It’s an unpredictable sprint that demands both preparation and presence. “You can prepare…but if you don’t perform, it doesn’t resonate,” he says. “And if you perform but get the facts wrong, you lose credibility. It’s got to be the perfect confluence of the two.”
That balance—between spontaneity and structure—is what turns a play into a moment. And sometimes, a moment into a memory.
Watch the full interview here:
Digital’s impact on linear broadcasts
While he may not have personal accounts on social media, Eagle is very much in it. From burner accounts to real-time research, he treats platforms like X and Reddit as essential tools of the job. “If your viewers know things that you don’t, that’s a problem,” he says. “So I check during breaks. You don’t want to be the one on the outside looking in.”
He’s aware when a call like, “We just got the full Nelson!” lights up the timeline—but insists it’s never the goal. “You’re not doing it to go viral. You’re doing it because it’s entertaining and informative.”
Still, he recognizes how the booth now plays multiple roles: storyteller, scanner, sense-maker. In other words, in today’s world where content consumption is so fragmented, the broadcast isn’t just a feed, it’s a filter. And the person behind the mic is curating in real time. The digital layer doesn’t replace the call, it informs it, reshapes it, and sometimes turns it into a meme by halftime.
Telling a story beyond the game itself
One observation made by Eagle is every team, league, and coach is now surrounded by a content team, documenting everything to tell another story that lives alongside the in-game action. “Every game now has cameras around,” he says. “Someone’s filming practice. Someone’s capturing moments away from the court.”
It’s a strategic move. Because today, fandom never rests. Social clips, viral moments, and behind-the-scenes footage now shape the fan relationship just as much as the game itself. As Eagle explained, sometimes those storylines make it into the live broadcast. Case-in-point: coach Dan Hurley’s superstition-fueled underwear rotation. It all started with a post on social media, but during UCONN’s 20-point blowout against Northwestern in the 2024 NCAA tournament, it became the story. Because even when the scoreboard is quiet, fans still expect to be entertained.
The next generation of talent: a new kind of prep
Eagle’s son, Noah, followed in his father’s footsteps. First at Syracuse, and now by calling NFL and Big Ten games for NBC. While their styles are similar, the way they prepare for games is quite different.
“He’s an audio learner. I’m a visual one,” Eagle explains. “He downloads podcasts. I read transcripts. He absorbs things while he’s working out—I write bullet points.”
What unites them is the same thing that fueled Eagle’s own path: curiosity and craft. From a young age, Noah would ask questions about delivery, camera presence, and tone—poignant questions that Eagle saw as a precursor to his son’s current career path.
“He wasn’t just watching. He was studying,” Eagle says. “And now, he’s shaping his own way of doing the job.”
That generational shift—how younger voices prep, listen, and learn—mirrors the broader transformation in sports media. Attention is fragmented. Content is constant. And the next wave of broadcasters will be shaped just as much by social media and podcasts as by the traditional broadcast playbook.
With decades in front of the camera and the next generation following right behind, Ian will undoubtedly continue to shape how fans experience some of the biggest moments in sports—one call at a time.