The Voice of North America’s World Cup

Mark is a two-time NSMA Texas Sportscaster of the Year… Mavericks TV PxP, and soccer PxP.

As the long awaited North American 2026 World Cup starts tomorrow, a note about my broadcast work. I’ll be at the Int’l Broadcast Center here in Dallas working on FIFA’s Audio Descriptive Commentary feed for many matches (starting w/ MEX vs RSA and KOR vs CZE tomorrow).

A primer on Audio Descriptive Commentary. It’s a service provided by many clubs in Europe and by FIFA in previous men’s and women’s World Cups for visually impaired individuals to go to games and experience the match atmosphere in person while having special headphone receivers to hear someone provide essentially an elevated version of radio play by play of what is happening. It’s making in-person matches a more inclusive and accessible experience for the visually impaired.

Well this year FIFA as described in the screenshot is making the service available on the FIFA ADC app. It’s now something anyone can listen to in-stadium or anywhere else, designed for blind/low-vision users but available to anyone who wants to listen. It’s the first time in this delivery method so it’s quite an endeavor and we’ll see how the first matches go tomorrow from a technical standpoint but a lot of people have worked super hard on it. Also there’s no real radio broadcast of these games in the US. Sirius XM and some iHeart stations are simulcasting the TV broadcasts but we’ll be doing as I mentioned a hyper descriptive form of radio PxP so this hopefully is of value to many others.

My longtime FC Dallas colleagues and friends @owen_newkirk and @ryanfigert will also be on English broadcasts and the great Victor Villalba and @calvarado33 will do Spanish play by play. The Canadian based games will be done on site by @peter_schaad in English and @mattcullenlive in French.

On a personal note my mom who died in 2021 lived the final 8 yrs of her life with no sight in one eye and very limited sight in the other. That was tough as I’m sure many can understand but she persevered. We all want to help people but a chance to do something for the visually impaired community will always be special for me. So I look forward to the football but I’m really happy about the emotional connection and fulfillment of this project.