SYRACUSE -- After just one season with the Syracuse Crunch, broadcaster Joe Brown has is no longer listed among the staff of the AHL club. There's no word yet on who will be providing play-by-play for the team this coming season, but thankfully, the team has plenty of time to make that decision.
The "Front Office" staff listing on the team's website currently lists "TBD" where Brown's name previously appeared. Brown joined the team less than a year ago, after longtime Crunch broadcaster Bob McElligott accepted a position with the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, with whom the Crunch were affiliated until the end of the 2009-10 season.
Update 6/14: Crunch officials confirm Brown has accepted a new position in the sales department at television station KABB, a Fox network affiliate in San Antonio, Texas. Brown, a native of the Syracuse suburb of Westvale, previously worked at KABB as a sportscaster. He told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "it was a better opportunity." In the same article, Crunch VP Jim Sarosy says Brown left the team on good terms and "we wish him the best."
Aside from the new NHL affilation and a new broadcaster, you may recall the Crunch will be on a new station when the 2010-11 season begins. Last month, the team announced it's moving its live play-by-play coverage to Citadel's The Score 1260 (WSKO), ending a long relationship with Clear Channel's WHEN and WSYR.