Phillies radio broadcaster Jim Jackson announces he won’t return next season

The longtime Phillies pregame and postgame show host will continue in his role as the lead play-by-play announcer on Flyers telecasts.

Jim Jackson, shown here on the left, with Keith Jones, will continue in his role as the Flyers' TV play-by-play announcer.Read moreLen Redkoles / NHLI via Getty Images

by Scott Lauber

Published Oct. 14, 2020, 6:53 p.m. ET

A few weeks after the Phillies offered a buyout package to full-time employees, and with further staff reductions likely looming next month, a longtime member of the broadcast team announced Wednesday that he won’t return next season.

Jim Jackson, host of the pregame and postgame shows on the Phillies' radio network, put out a seven-paragraph statement on Twitter in which he said the team informed him that he’s a “luxury the organization can no longer afford in such uncertain times.”

Jackson said he will continue as the Flyers' lead TV play-by-play announcer, a job he has held for 25 years. He joined the Phillies' radio broadcast team for the 2007 season. In 2010, he took on play-by-play duties, mostly in the middle innings of home games.

Like many teams in baseball, the Phillies are projecting losses of “substantially more than $100 million this year," according to the email that managing partner John Middleton sent to employees in June, after a 60-game season and no fans in the ballpark due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Although Middleton and the Buck family invested an additional $100 million into the team, layoffs are expected. In addition, some player-development staff and scouts with contracts that expire at the end of the month might not be renewed.

Meanwhile, the Phillies announced that the “game face” cardboard cutout program at Citizens Bank Park this season raised more than $320,000, with net proceeds benefiting Phillies Charities. More than 10,000 fans took part in the promotion. Cutouts were priced at $25 for season-ticket holders and $40 for the general public.