“Onions!” Bill Raftery, the legendary sportscaster who works closely with college basketball and whose signature catchphrase uses the aforementioned root vegetable, has signed an agent agreement with CAA.
Raftery has been bringing college basketball to CBS’ college sports coverage for years, joining James Brown, Sean McDonough, Vern Lundquist, Jim Nantz, Grant Hill and Ian Eagle. He will be responsible for Paramount Skydance’s CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT and TBS broadcasting various games of the upcoming March Madness tournament in 2026.
Mr. Raftery was previously represented by RLR Associates.
Raftery, a four-time Sports Emmy Award winner, is also known for his many years as the lead college basketball analyst for Fox Sports. He also served as the Nets’ lead analyst for 20 years and began being called to the team’s games in 1982.
Raftery was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2017 and is a recipient of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Media Award.
Raftery was drafted by the New York Knicks as a player and went on to a 16-year career as a college coach at Seton Hall and Fairleigh Dickinson.
He began his broadcasting career in 1980 as co-host of ESPN’s “College Hoops Tonight.”
Raftery was the subject of the 2016 documentary “With a Kiss,” about making his first Final Four at age 71, produced by his son Billy and Raftery’s broadcast partner Grant Hill. This documentary was released in 2016. Raftery’s daughter Kelly is also in the media industry, working as Roku’s vice president of global communications.
