When the Washington Commanders travel to Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium to take on the Buccaneers on Sunday, they’ll kick off a brand-new era for a storied 92-year-old National Football League franchise.

Highlighted by the first career start for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the No. 2 pick in April’s draft, the Commanders boast an abundance of potential, a new head coach, a relatively new name and identity, and an ownership group that purchased the team from Daniel Snyder just last year.

“What I’m excited about is I just don’t know [what this season will bring], and that’s actually a rare and fun position to be in,” said Bram Weinstein, SOC/BA ’95, the voice of the Washington Commanders Radio Network.

Amid all that change, Weinstein will remain a constant for fans. The sportscaster who studied broadcast journalism at AU is entering his fifth year as the team’s play-by-play announcer, heard each week locally on Big 100.3 FM. 

Weinstein grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, rooting for the burgundy and gold and pretending to call his hometown team’s games. By the time Weinstein turned 18, Washington won three Super Bowls, and his first love sparked a decades-long career in sports.

Weinstein got the Commanders gig about a month before the 2020 season. His rookie season got off to an anticlimactic start, however. Amid the pandemic, away games were called from a TV feed, while home games were played without fans.

“The fans are the soundtrack,” Weinstein said. “You allow their energy to feed the broadcasts. They tell you what’s happening. With a roar or a groan, you can tell they’re happy or unhappy. Without a crowd there, it’s really strange.”

That season, Weinstein remembers rising to meet the moment of a big Washington touchdown late in a contest with less than 100 people—all of them team employees—in the stadium. The gridiron was so quiet Weinstein could hear the players celebrating the score and in turn, he felt like they could hear his every word painting the picture of the action.  

“The second year was far more what I envisioned when I was a kid because the crowd was with you,” he said. “The other [environment] was dystopian. It was bizarre.”

The energy headed into this season reminds Weinstein of the team’s best seasons when he watched many games from RFK with his neighbors, who were season ticket holders, often with an extra seat to share.

Then, the DC community came to a standstill for every game and the city celebrated every victory. Over the years, though, much of that excitement was lost as the team struggled under Snyder, an unpopular and controversial owner.

“They earned a lot of the negativity in the previous years,” Weinstein said. “Not the players for the most part, not the coaches for the most part, but the front office. And the ownership in some ways failed the organization and left them in a position where they lost some of the goodwill. Once you lose some of that, it’s hard to get everybody on board again.”

Weinstein hopes the team’s new look and lineup bring back lots of old fans. And he said he feels lucky to be part of Washington’s new era.

“I truly want to do a great job for them,” he said. “I want our fans to be proud of what they get. I’m an eternal fan. I want the community to win; I want the team to win.”