Lisa Byington

Lisa Byington (BSJ98, MSJ99) joined Medill’s Hall of Achievement in 2026.

Byington has been a trailblazer in the sports broadcasting world for years. She is the first female full-time television play-by-play announcer for a major men’s sports team, the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks. She won a regional Emmy for her performance during her first year with the Bucks.

In addition to the Bucks position, she is also the first and only female play-by-play announcer to call March Madness for the men's NCAA Tournament. She worked as a play-by-play for five years for CBS and Warner Bros. She worked March Madness for eight straight years, working three as a sideline reporter.

Her first groundbreaking assignment came in 2017, when she made history as the first female play-by-play announcer for a college football game on Big Ten Network.

Throughout her career, Byington has covered a wide span of sports, from football and basketball, to volleyball, softball and soccer. Byington's announcing has crossed over with FOX Sports, Big Ten Network, CBS and Warner Bros. She has worked in the women's professional spaces as well, covering the NWSL, and the WNBA's Chicago Sky since 2013. Byington is also a part of Amazon's inaugural coverage of the WNBA, starting in 2026. Finally, she was also able to announce on two of the biggest world stages. In 2021, she worked the Tokyo Olympic Games for NBC Sports as a men’s and women’s soccer announcer, and for the Women’s World Cup in 2019 on FOX.

Byington began her career at local stations: WBKB in Alpena, Michigan, and WLNS in Lansing, Michigan.

In 2022, the Big Ten Network and Big Ten Conference created the Lisa Byington Award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding female broadcaster in the Big Ten Network StudentU program.