Central Hockey League and NHL radio broadcasting Mears served as director of media relations and broadcasting for the
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the
Central Hockey League from 2002 to 2006. He was named the Central Hockey League Broadcaster of the Year in 2005. In the summer of 2006, Mears accepted a position as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the
New York Islanders of the
National Hockey League. Mears made his
NHL broadcasting debut on October 5, 2006, during a New York Islanders vs
Phoenix Coyotes game. Mears stayed with the Islanders for three seasons before joining the Pittsburgh Penguins Radio Network. He served four seasons with the Penguins, covering their radio and TV game broadcasts, hosting "Penguins Live" on Pittsburgh Penguins 24/7 Radio, and contributing to PensTV on the official team website. Aside from NHL Now, Mears also anchored video segments for NHL.com and called play-by-play for the IIHF World Junior Championships. On September 1, 2023, following its acquisition of AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh,
Fenway Sports Group announced that Mears would not return to the TV booth. Fenway then hired the team's play-by-play radio announcer, Josh Getzoff, to replace Mears on the TV broadcasts, while he in turn was then selected by the team to replace Getzoff on radio.
3ICE Starting with the inaugural 2022 summer season, Mears was the play-by-play announcer for
3ICE on CBS Sports.
Columbus Blue Jackets Mears was announced as the
Columbus Blue Jackets television play-by-play announcer on July 2, 2024. He will work with color commentator
Jody Shelley on Blue Jackets games being broadcast via
Bally Sports Ohio (Now
FanDuel Sports Network). ==References==