Eric Frede is a play-by-play commentator for ESPN, where he has worked full time since 2019 after first freelancing for the network more than 20 years ago. He calls women’s college basketball, including the NCAA Tournament, and men’s college basketball; college football, including Ivy League Friday night games and “The Game” between Harvard and Yale; college softball, baseball and volleyball, including NCAA Tournament coverage; and Little League baseball and softball.
Earlier in his ESPN career, Frede called college hockey, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. On women’s basketball telecasts, he has worked alongside analysts including Tamika Catchings and Christy Thomaskutty.
Frede began his career in New York, covering West Point sports, calling Marist College basketball games on radio and working as a production assistant at NBC Sports. He later worked as a sports anchor at WVII in Bangor, Maine, and WMUR in Manchester, N.H., before arriving in Boston in 1998 to host Celtics programming for Fox Sports Net New England. At NESN, he was the Red Sox field reporter during the 2004 World Series championship season and served as a studio host for the Bruins. From 2013-19, he was the play-by-play commentator for SNY’s coverage of UConn women’s basketball.
In 2024, Frede made his debut on NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage as the play-by-play commentator for handball at the Paris Games. He is a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting and a 1988 graduate of Ithaca College.