CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — For Tim Sinclair, the P.A. announcer for the Bulls, the Bears, and the Fighting Illini, the Olympics, the World Cup, and the Super Bowl were once just dreams on his career bucket list.
However, Sinclair, formerly known as a host for CI Living, recently had the opportunity to strike “World Cup” off that list. He was selected to announce four matches during the group stages in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“I announced the Mexico versus Korea Republic match in Mexico. Additionally, I got to cover Congo versus Colombia and the exciting Spain versus Uruguay match. Our first game was between Korea Republic and Czechia,” Sinclair shared.
Sinclair was invited to try out for the role last fall. As part of the selection process, he submitted demo tapes and participated in a live audition, where he read out lineups, he explained.
Sinclair spent four weeks in Mexico, spending time outside the broadcast booth as a tourist and days preparing for soccer’s biggest stage.
He made frequent social media posts about his trip. One of the videos explained how he prepared to announce 180 names from seven teams.
“NBA and college basketball, you have a lot of foreign names. But this was kind of that on steroids,” said Sinclair.
He said he does not know if he’ll be working the 2030 World Cup yet, but he said being selected at all was the honor of a lifetime.
“It’s been called the biggest sporting event in the history of the world. And so, to say you’re a part of that, even in a small way is pretty cool,” said Sinclair.