When the Buffalo Bills welcome the Carolina Panthers to New Era Field Thursday night for the first preseason game of the 2018 season, fans watching the game at home on television will notice some changes from the broadcast booth.
Longtime sideline reporter Mike Catalana, the sports director for 13WHAM News in Rochester, has been replaced for the preseason games with Thad Brown, sports director with WROC-TV (Channel 8) in Rochester. Brown also contributes to WIVB-TV’s (Channel 4) Bills coverage in Buffalo.
Catalana had served as the sideline reporter for all of the Bills preseason games since the 2000 season.
Rob Stone and former Bills’ special teams great Steve Tasker will be in the broadcast booth and Brown will serve as the sideline reporter for the preseason opener vs. the Panthers.
Andrew Catalon and Tasker will handle the broadcasting duties — with Brown the sideline reporter — for the Week 2 preseason game at the Cleveland Browns on Aug. 17, and the Week 4 preseason game at the Chicago Bears on Aug. 30.
Those three preseason games will air on CBS, while the Week 3 home preseason game vs. the Cincinnati Bengals will be carried nationally on FOX.