The 2025 Sports Emmy nominations are out, and both Ian Eagle and Noah Eagle are up for Outstanding Play-By-Play Personality.
The father and son both had banner years in 2024 as sports announcers, with Ian calling his first men’s Final Four as well as the NBA playoffs and NFL regular season for both CBS and Netflix and Noah calling basketball at the Olympics alongside NFL and college football for NBC and Netflix.
The race could well come down to the two Eagles. But in an appearance on The Zach Gelb Show on Wednesday, Ian Eagle handled the situation with class and his signature wit.
“Is it strange that my wife is rooting hard for Joe Davis?” Eagle cracked.
Rounding out the nominees are NBC’s Mike Tirico and ESPN’s Mike Breen.
Breen has won three times, while Tirico won in 2022 and 2023 as a studio host at the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics. Neither Eagle has ever won.
“I was thinking about just grounding him that day,” Eagle added, “so that he can’t even go, and he can’t win.”
But on a more serious note, Ian Eagle said the honor of being nominated alongside his son was much more exciting on a personal level than for the potential of getting a trophy.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “It’s just really an amazing thing … it’s all felt like a dream.”
The winners will be announced May 20.
Later this year, both Eagles will become part of the next chapter of NBA broadcasting as the league embarks on a new 11-year deal with ESPN, Amazon and NBC. Ian will be a top announcer on Amazon’s coverage, while Noah will continue at NBC as the No. 2 behind Tirico. And if 2024 is any indication, we will see both father and son once again on Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL extravaganza.
There have been plenty of father-son tandems in sports media history, but it’s rare to have both occupying prominent roles in the industry at the same time. It’s even more rare for both to be among the best at their craft.