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Broadcasters Rod Allen, Mario Impemba won't return to Detroit Tigers

Both Allen and Impemba did not appear on the air for the remainder of the season after the September incident.
Rod Allen, left, and Mario Impemba in the Fox Sports Detroit studio in 2006. (Photo: David P. Gilkey, DFP)

As expected, the Detroit Tigers will have a new television broadcast team next season.

After a late-season falling out escalated to a physical altercation on Sept. 4, longtime Fox Sports Detroit broadcasters Rod Allen and Mario Impemba will not return next season, according to multiple persons with knowledge of the situation.

The end of their lengthy run is not surprising: Both Allen and Impemba did not appear on the air for the remainder of the season after the incident.

Impemba, 55, served as the Tigers’ play-by-play broadcaster since 2002.

Allen, 58, was the chief color commentator since 2003. Neither have spoken publicly about the incident, which served as a sour ending to nearly 17 seasons together in the broadcast booth.

Matt Shepard and Kirk Gibson called the majority of games in Allen and Impemba’s absence.

Shepard, a mainstay in the Detroit sports media scene for nearly 30 years, won the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association’s Ty Tyson Award for excellence in sports broadcasting this year.

Gibson has shared color-commentary duties with Allen for the past three seasons.

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech.

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