[3][5] McAvaney moved to television in 1978,[3] when he joined Adelaide station ADS-7 to read sport news and produce the weekly Racetrack program.

His career received a boost when colleague Sandy Roberts covered the 1980 Moscow Olympics for Seven,[6] and McAvaney was chosen to host the Adelaide end of the telecast for the station.

He was also the lead commentator for Seven's telecasts of the South Australian National Football League competition, calling the 1983 SANFL Grand Final with former player Robert Oatey.

[7] Between 1985 and 1988, McAvaney also called the Melbourne Cup and hosted various major sporting telecasts for Ten, including the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games,[3] the 1987 World Athletics Championships in Rome[3] and the 1988 IAAF Grand Prix in Berlin.

[3] Since his return to Seven, McAvaney has hosted and called a broad range of the network's sports coverage, including the Melbourne Cup, World Athletics Championships, Motor Racing, the Australian Open Tennis, Australian Masters Golf and all Summer Olympic Games from Barcelona 1992 to the 2020 Summer Olympics.

McAvaney announced informally that he would no longer commentate Men's games at the Australian Open so that he could optimise his health over summer and for other sport events.

[9] In July 2024 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation announced McAvaney would be joining its Paris Olympics commentary team on ABC Radio stations.

Ultimately, McAvaney said on multiple occasions over this period that Freeman's 2000 victory was "probably the most important of my life as a caller ... and to be a tiny part of that is an incredible privilege".