Oklahoma announcer apologizes after blasting Tennessee over Neyland Stadium Spanish radio setup

This story was updated to add new information.

Oklahoma football play-by-play radio announcer Toby Rowland blasted the University of Tennessee on social media for not providing a booth in the Neyland Stadium press box for the Sooners’ Spanish-speaking radio broadcast for the Nov. 1 game.

Rowland took his complaints directly to X with two posts on Oct. 27, saying he hopes other SEC schools will be “more accomodating” than Tennessee. Three hours later, Rowland posted an apology.

UT replied to Rowland’s initial complaint on X, pointing out that its own Spanish broadcast crew calls the games off site at a studio rather than Neyland Stadium because of space restrictions. Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama are the only SEC schools with a Spanish radio broadcast of football games.

“Tennessee is not providing a broadcast location for our @LosSooners broadcast crew this week. Tennessee suggested we leave them home to broadcast off television. We don’t want to set that unfair precedent. Enrique & Luis are treasured members of the Sooner Radio Team,” Rowland posted on X.

“So we’ve invited them to share our booth Saturday in Knoxville. It’ll be cozy & we may hear each other in background occasionally. But, we’re excited for this experience, value our awesomely talented @LosSooners crew & hope future SEC foes will be more accommodating.”

No. 14 Tennessee (6-2, 3-2 SEC) plays No. 18 Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC) on Nov. 1 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) at Neyland Stadium.

How Tennessee replied to Oklahoma announcer’s complaint

UT football spokesman Bill Martin replied to Rowland on X, referencing a conversation he previously had with him about the arrangements. He also pointed out that UT’s own Spanish broadcast calls games from the WNML studio, featuring play-by-play announer Carlos Lopez and analyst J.P. Vasquez.

“Toby – look forward to seeing you. For the record, our own Spanish broadcast team doesn’t call the game in our stadium because we have no booth or deck to safely accommodate. They call in a studio,” Martin posted on X. “We are a glass enclosed press box high above. We also have national radio here as well in the secondary booth.

“As has previously been discussed, we have one of the largest home/visiting radio booths with three rows and activated additional lines last week to accommodate both broadcasts in your booth.”

According to Rowland, Oklahoma will have English and Spanish radio crews in the same room, an option that UT offered.

Martin confirmed to Knox News that UT activated an additional broadcast line for the Spanish radio crew at UT’s expense to accomodate Oklahoma.

Two hours after Martin responded to the initial post on X, Rowland replied with an apology.

“My sincere apologies for the tone of my earlier tweet. It was clumsy. Absolutely no shade intended,” Rowland posted. “Simply want fans to know why Saturday’s broadcast may sound different. Tennessee has been 1st class & our entire @OUontheAir & @LosSooners crews can’t wait to be back in Rocky Top!”

Why there’s no extra room for Oklahoma’s second radio crew

Neyland Stadium actually has more booths than most FBS facilities, but the popularity of UT games puts that space at a premium.

There are three radio booths in Neyland Stadium for home, visitor and national radio crews. Most of UT’s SEC games are carried by a national radio broadcast like Westwood One, ESPN Radio or Touchdown Radio.

For the Vols’ game against Oklahoma, Touchdown Radio will be in the third radio booth, which UT is contractually obligated to provide.

The rest of the press box is designated for the TV broadcast crew, home and visiting coaches and writers covering the game.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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