Atlanta United today announced it has finalized its broadcast team for the upcoming 2021 season, highlighted by the debut of Maurice Edu as color analyst, replacing Dan Gargan. Edu will be joined by Kevin Egan (play-by-play), who will return for his fifth season calling Atlanta United matches for the networks, while Jillian Sakovits will enter her fourth season as host/reporter. The team will make its season debut on Saturday against Chicago Fire FC (8:00 p.m., Bally Sports South) with the pre-game show Atlanta United LIVE starting at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re excited to welcome Maurice to the broadcast, further complementing our top-class crew with Kevin and Jillian,” Atlanta United President Darren Eales said. “Maurice has a thorough understanding of MLS and his international experience will add another dimension to our broadcast. We’re looking forward to kicking off our first match on the all-new Bally Sports South this weekend against Chicago.”
The club also announced on Friday that it’s match Saturday, May 1 against New England Revolution will be televised locally on the CW Network (7:00 p.m., CW69, atlutd.com/live, STAR 94.1) with the club’s broadcast crew on the call.
Edu, a former U.S. international, retired from professional soccer in 2018. He appeared in 46 matches for the U.S. Men’s National Team and played a key role in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he helped the USMNT reach the knockout round. At the club level, Edu was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft by Toronto FC and quickly made an impact, ultimately winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award before getting sold to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. There he made more than 100 appearances and helped the club win six trophies before he joined Stoke City of the English Premier League. Edu finished his career with Philadelphia Union. Since retiring, Edu has been heavily involved in television, serving as a studio analyst for UEFA Champions League matches on TNT, in addition to his current role serving as a studio analyst and color analyst for MLS matches on FOX Sports.
A native of Dublin, Ireland, Kevin Egan joined Atlanta United in 2017 as the team’s play-by-play voice for local television broadcasts. Egan got his start in television in 2004 with Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE, covering the Olympic Games as well as the World Cup and Champions League. In 2009 he moved to Chicago to join the Big Ten Network before working on Chicago Fire broadcasts for three seasons. Egan also currently works for CNN International (football correspondent) and SiriusXM FC, where he joins Ray Hudson, Neil Barnett and Charlie Stillitano on The Football Show. In addition to his work in soccer, Egan recently joined WWE broadcasts where he serves as a backstage correspondent for Raw, a play-by-play commentator for Main Event, and as the host of Raw Talk.
Sakovits enters her fourth season as the club's sideline reporter. After graduating from the State University of New York (SUNY) Oneonta, she started her career as a production assistant for News 12 in Westchester, N.Y. and worked her way to a sports reporter and anchor covering all major New York sports teams. Since then, Sakovits has held various roles across the professional sports landscape, including MLS on FS1, Warner Media's ELEAGUE TV, the Big Ten Network, MLB.com, NHL.com, and MLSsoccer.com. She is also currently the co-host of The Call Up, an official league podcast every Tuesday on the Major League Soccer YouTube channel.
Atlanta United fans can submit questions to the broadcast crew to be read on-air during Atlanta United LIVE pre-match show by emailing 17s@atlutd.com.
Atlanta United telecasts on Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast will be widely available throughout Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, western North Carolina and parts of Tennessee on cable, satellite and streaming providers, including AT&T U-verse, AT&T TV, DirecTV, Spectrum and Xfinity.
