Longtime KARE 11 Sportscaster Eric Perkins Calls It Quits

After 25 years at KARE 11 in the Cities, Eric Perkins announced on social media that he is leaving the station.

This was announced a couple of weeks ago, but I was on vacation and I missed it.

I always enjoyed Perkin's sportscasts. He has a very nonchalant way of delivering the sports. It's a rare talent to be able to connect in broadcasting as if you are just having a candid conversation about something.  I certainly enjoyed his "pie-eyed" smirk.

Perkins has that talent. Sometimes I'd catch his sportscast and say to myself, "looks like he just came from happy hour" but that's just how casual he made it seem.  He's usually has that look like, "Yeah, I can't believe they're paying me to do this, either".

Perkins made his big announcement on social media recently;

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I can totally understand where he's coming from on his decision to leave a gig that's been pretty good to him for two and a half decades. Sometimes in broadcasting or any job, you can get to a point of feeling "uncomfortably" comfortable.

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He first made his mark at KARE 11 with his "Perk at Play" segments in 1996 and was eventually promoted to sports director in 2012.

If you are looking for some kind of scandal here, you won't find one.  Perkins in a YouTube video explained "There's no scandal here. There's no drama involved in this exit. I just need a change. I want to grow and that hasn't been happening here for me lately. I want to extend myself again, I want to push myself again."

As far as what may be next for Perkins, he doesn't really know, but added on the video "Something tells me I'll probably be providing content in some form on some platform. And I'm always going to be Perk at Play. You can always count on that, I'm just going to be playing somewhere else," he said.

Eric Perkins will be missed.  There aren't nearly enough out there like him. his last broadcast at KARE 11 will be August 8th.

 

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