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Report: Tigers broadcasters who had physical altercation won't return in 2019

Mark Cunningham / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Longtime Detroit Tigers television broadcasters Mario Impemba and Rod Allen won't return to the team in 2019 after the two got into a physical altercation, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.

Impemba, who called play-by-play, and color commentator Allen apparently got into the altercation following the Tigers' game at Chicago's Guaranteed Rate Field on Sept. 4. Detroit's Local 4 News reported at the time that Allen allegedly choked Impemba from behind following a dispute over a chair in the broadcast booth.

Allen's agent denied that his client choked Impemba, according to Lynn Henning and Tony Paul of the Detroit News.

Sources told The Athletic's Katie Strang last month that there had been tension between the duo all season, though the altercation that ultimately cost them their jobs was apparently the first instance of anything physical between the pair.

FOX Sports Detroit suspended both men for the rest of the regular season after the incident. Matt Shepard and Kirk Gibson replaced them in the broadcast booth during the final weeks of September.

Impemba first joined the Tigers' broadcast team in 2002. He and Allen had worked together as partners on FOX Sports Detroit since 2003.

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