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The former Timbers broadcaster still isn’t afraid to stand out in the rain.
BEAVERTON — Yes, you’ve likely seen Jake Zivin enjoying the sunshine.
The former Timbers broadcaster who now serves as the lead commentator for Apple TV’s MLS coverage has done a lot of games from Miami over the last couple of years. He spent this year’s season-opener broadcasting live from San Diego, and is jumping on a flight back there on Saturday for a match that evening.
It’s supposed to be 62 with minimal cloud coverage.
But on Friday, Zivin stood in the rain.
The Portlander spent his morning at the Timbers training Facility out in Beaverton, catching up with a club that’s found a bit of good form as of late heading into Sunday’s match against Houston Dynamo.
Saturday night, Zivin calls San Diego FC vs. LAFC. But on Sunday, Zivin returns home to call the Timbers’ debut on Sunday Night Soccer, Apple’s new game-of-the-week showcase with enhanced production and studio programming.
“I’m slightly reluctant to use the word ‘home game’ because I don’t want to come across as biased,” Zivin said. “‘Smaller commute game’ is a better way of putting it — just having to pop 15 minutes in the car to get to Providence Park. Look, Providence Park is a special place for me. Doing almost 10 years of TV there in the same broadcast booth, it’s special for me any time I get to call a game there.”
The I-5 Corridor caught up with Zivin to talk about Sunday Night Soccer, this year’s Timbers team, how the MLS has changed since Lionel Messi joined the league and what a broadcaster’s responsibility is after a bad decision by the referees.
(Lightly edited for length and clarity.)
I-5 Corridor: The last time we touched base with you from a Corridor perspective was right after you called the first Messi game. I think it’s fair to call that span of the summer a phenomenon, just with how much interest and attention he drew. You could see it stadium by stadium. Where do you think the league has gone in the year and a half since that initial, “holy cow, Messi is here?”
Jake Zivin: I mean, that was wild, like you said. It felt like a Taylor Swift concert tour everywhere we went. And it still feels that way with Messi on the road—maybe not quite the same, especially if you’re going to a city he’s been to a few times—but that was lightning in a bottle. The prime example of that cliché. Like, Oh my gosh, this was wild for a couple months there in the summer.
The league has continued to grow since. I think the league has always been about consistent growth and consistent expansion—not just with the number of teams, but the type of players they bring in and the amount of money that’s spent. The level of the league has continued to get better.
Every year I think better players are coming in. You look at the top teams and try to compare them to even five years ago, ten years ago—I just think the quality has continued to grow.
I think Messi being here has attracted other players that maybe wouldn’t have considered coming to the league. Specifically with Inter Miami, you’re seeing young South American players—guys who might’ve gone straight to Europe—say, “I want to go play at Inter Miami.”
And then from an off-field, global perspective, there’s no doubt more people are paying attention to this league. More people are watching. That goes hand-in-hand with Apple TV—the fact that you can watch it in 120-ish countries, easily, on Apple.
And to tie it into this week: That’s what I’m excited for with Sunday Night Soccer and Providence Park. I do think there are a lot of new eyeballs, new people to the league, who maybe don’t know about Providence Park and the Portland Timbers.
I-5: How different is the preparation when you’re doing a Messi game, which is going to have a worldwide audience, versus a national game that’s more local?
Zivin: I don’t really change my approach or prep. Obviously, with Messi, he’s such a singular athlete, so I have a couple pages of auxiliary notes that maybe go a little deeper than every other player—just because you don’t want to miss anything.
I’ve broken down all of his goals— the number that he’s scored, how many for each team, how many with his right foot, left foot, headers, chest. He’s scored one goal with his hand 15 years ago, a kind of Hand of God situation —just to make sure I’m keeping track of everything.
He’s never scored in the first minute of a game. He’s never scored an olímpico—direct from a corner kick—though I feel like he’s been trying in Miami. I just want to be ready in case that happens and I can say, “He’s scored 835 goals in his career” — or whatever it is — “but that’s the first time he’s scored in the first minute of a game.”
So yeah, the prep is a little deeper in that regard. But we’ve also done 20 or 30 games, so those little notes build up, just like my Timbers notes, right? Over ten years of doing Timbers games, I’ve got such detailed notes on everybody. I have a Diego Chara auxiliary page as well. I had a Valeri one.
I-5: So how much do you enjoy what Sunday Night Soccer allows you guys to do? Because it puts the spotlight on teams that aren’t just the biggest names.
Zivin: Absolutely. I think most people—especially Timbers supporters—probably know this about me: I love this league. I love this sport. Always have.
I grew up in Chicago. I grew up a big Chicago Fire fan from their first year in 1998. I’m an American sports fan—I grew up a Bulls fan, Bears fan, Cubs fan and a Fire fan. And because soccer was my favorite sport, the Fire were number one. I thought of them just like the Cubs, Bears and Bulls. MLS was just as important to me.
So it’s not just because Messi is here. I’ve always cared. And I’m really glad that with Sunday Night Soccer, we can shine a spotlight on teams and places that deserve it.
There are a lot of people who came to MLS because of Messi, which is fair—more power to them. We’ll take everybody, no matter the reason. But we also want to show them that there’s a lot more than just the greatest player of all time to this league: great teams, players, environments, stories.
That’s why I’m excited about Providence Park this week. It’s such a special building. A unique place in a league that now has wonderful stadiums now, but Providence Park is kind of one-of-a-kind in its history and I’m excited to showcase that to a global audience.
I-5: The Timbers ended last season with a pretty horrific game, then had a tumultuous offseason with the Evander stuff. They opened this year with a 4–1 loss at Vancouver. How surprised are you that they’ve been able to get above water, considering the injuries and retooling?
Zivin: I wouldn’t say surprised. This is a club that does that. This is a club that expects to be at the top of the Western Conference and in that conversation. This is a club that considers itself a big club in MLS, even in a mid-sized market.
There’s a lot of talent on this team, so that they would stabilize isn’t surprising. But it’s five games in. They’ve got to keep doing it, right? That’s the other side of it. It’s early and you’ve got to show that what we’ve seen the last two games is the level they’re at. Because I do think what we saw against the Galaxy was good.
If that penalty is called at the end of the Galaxy game, which I’m not one to criticize referees or focus on referee decisions, but I think most people agree that should have been a penalty. So if that penalty is given, if the Timbers convert that penalty, they win that game and they’re tied for second in the West, which I think totally changes the perspective of where this team is at right now.
I-5: What is a broadcaster’s responsibility in moments like that? I forget who was on the call for you guys, but they were pretty clear—like, “That should’ve been a penalty.” Where do you stand on that?
Zivin: For me, as the play-by-play, I usually leave that to Taylor—or whoever my broadcast partner is. In this case, it’s Taylor Twellman. I’ll leave it to him to analyze and give his opinion on it.
But I can provide the objective—what the referee might be considering. I think in that moment it was pretty clear that the referee had played advantage. You can say in that moment, that’s part of the game, you can play advantage. But on the flip side of that, you wait and see if the advantage materializes, right? And you’ll see that in the midfield all the time, a foul will happen but the ball will go directly to the team that was fouled. The referee will wait maybe two or three seconds, he’ll say, “Nah, there was no advantage.” And he’ll blow the whistle and bring it back and they’ll get a restart there. Common. And I think that’s probably what should have happened in this moment. If I were calling the game, I probably wouldn’t say that. I would let Taylor say it. I might lead him to it, or ask him questions about it. But I think that’s just how I focus and how I treat it.
I think our responsibility as a broadcast is to have Taylor give his opinion, but make sure it’s in the context of the correct rules. I think that’s important, just knowing what the referees are considering.
One thing the [referees] ask us: “We want you to give your opinion. If you disagree with a call, that’s great. Just make sure it’s well-informed.” And I think that’s completely fair.
I-5: To finish this off—who’s currently leading the Former Eugene Sports Anchor Dream Job Power Rankings? You or Stephen Nelson?
Zivin: Stephen Nelson, baby. No doubt about it. He’s got that Dodgers World Series ring. He’s got that SportsCenter LA gig—though that’s moving out now. I haven’t talked to Stephen since that announcement, but his main thing is the Dodgers.
I-5: You’re covering the biggest soccer player in the world, Stephen’s covering the biggest baseball player in the world. If you guys ever meet for beers, who’s asking more questions of who?
Zivin: I’ll say this: Stephen’s been awesome for me. He jumped from Eugene immediately to Bleacher Report and kind of a national job. And then from there to MLB and NHL Network. He was the initial voice of Apple TV’s Friday Night Baseball as well. So Stephen knows a lot of the people that I’m working with now on the Apple Sports side.
So he’s been awesome to me as kind of a sounding board over the steps in my career. We share an agent, which he was helpful in getting me in with.
So yeah, it’s me asking him more, for sure. And he’s had a lot of great moments. He’s had a great career. He’s a superstar. We were lucky to get him in Eugene.
I think I’ve told this story, but he was sending his college resume tape out—even though he had done a year in minor league hockey in Rockford—and he would send the link. And it was good, but it was a little bit raw. And when the YouTube video ended, it would recommend other videos—and one was from his Rockford IceHogs reel that he had also cut on his channel.
So I clicked play on that one, and I was like, “Oh man, he’s really good.” If he had been sending that IceHogs reel, he would have been gone. We were lucky to get him in Eugene. He’s a great friend. He’s the man.
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor
