The 49ers’ broadcast booth is getting a big boost for a run to the NFL playoffs.
KNBR, the team’s flagship radio station, announced Wednesday that play-by-play announcer Greg Papa will return to call San Francisco’s final two games of the 2025 NFL regular season after missing the previous 15 while battling cancer.
“We have officially activated Greg Papa off the NFI [non-football injury] list,” 49ers Director of Broadcast Partnerships Bob Sargent told Papa and his KNBR co-host Greg Silver as he called in to break the news on Wednesday. “So his 21-day practice window has officially been opened.”
The radio voice of the 49ers since the start of the 2019 season, Papa publicly shared his diagnosis in August before stepping away from both the team and KNBR. Now in remission, he will make his official return in Week 17 when the 49ers host the Bears on Sunday Night Football.
“In order for [the game] to be really lit the way we like it, we need our man in the seat that we’ve kept very, very warm for him,” Sargent said.
The 63-year-old Papa is set to resume a career that places him among the Bay Area’s biggest sports broadcasting legends. In addition to his current role with the 49ers, he has called games for the Oakland Raiders, San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors and Oakland Athletics.
Papa has also been a longtime contributor with NBC Sports Bay Area, hosting SportsTalk Live, Warriors Pre & Postgame Live, and Giants Pre & Postgame Live alongside his 49ers duties.
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