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I know there are talented female broadcasters out there and they deserve equal consideration. The XFL might as well be groundbreaking and have at least one female play by play/color analyst team for one of the weekly games.

Sounder wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:51 pm I know there are talented female broadcasters out there and they deserve equal consideration. The XFL might as well be groundbreaking and have at least one female play by play/color analyst team for one of the weekly games.

Absolutely no on a female color analyst in a two-person booth.

Football's a complicated game. You look at the history of professional football broadcasts, and I found only once in history has a network ever had a broadcast team without a player (or at least a coach) on the broadcast team... 1987, when reporter Roy Firestone was the color guy for ESPN's Sunday night package. Even when Monday Night Football had non-football guys like Miller, Cosell or Kornheiser in the booth, they had a former player alongside them.

Simply put, there are almost no women that would fit the description of a former pro player or coach... and even if they use a three-person booth, that third provocateur post is not one that most women are well-suited to fill*, and it just opens up the opportunity for her to decry any criticism as "sexist."

If they can find a play-by-play voice that works for professional football and happens to be female... go for it. There's nothing that technically disqualifies any woman from doing play-by-play and I'm somewhat surprised there haven't been more yet. But until we see women players and coaches in the pipeline, there won't be any women qualified to do color.

*Now that I'm thinking about it, though... there is one female sports personality who I think might make an interesting addition to an XFL broadcast team. She was a big backer of the old XFL, and she coincidentally is based in Tampa Bay. I don't know how her health is lately, but I wonder if they could get The Fabulous Sports Babe out of retirement.

At least as late as 2011,. she was still doing sports radio in the Tampa area. She had been I believe the first female sports talk host anywhere when she worked at 950 KJR Seattle in 1991.

Sounder wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:45 am At least as late as 2011,. she was still doing sports radio in the Tampa area. She had been I believe the first female sports talk host anywhere when she worked at 950 KJR Seattle in 1991.

2014 was the last time I saw she had any paying work as I understand it. She was trying out podcasting as recently as 2017 and her Twitter is still active.

But I also know she's had health issues over the years, including cancer and a few strokes. Plus, there's the little issue of how she ended up out of ESPN 20 years ago with that memoir, so if they do hire her, it'd probably be on the Fox side.

If things progress as indicated, it should be interesting to see if the ratio of women viewers shows any significant increase. The NFL has pursued the female viewer through female specific merchandise and even a female official and staff. Female broadcasters and a number of female officials could very well shine a spotlight on the XFL in a very positive light. So far, the league seems to be trying to rewrite football on all levels.

It has happened. Andrea Kramer and Hannah Storm were the team on Thursday night on Amazon Prime doing NFL.

Sounder wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:40 pm It has happened. Andrea Kramer and Hannah Storm were the team on Thursday night on Amazon Prime doing NFL.

That was cool. It was more of novelty thing than a permanent one. Like a career achievement award. Both those sportscasters are highly respected in their field. You want the best possible talents working in the broadcast booth. People who are dedicated to the concept and who respect and have knowledge of the game of college and pro football. If it ends up being a woman. That's a bonus. It would be cool. Whomever is the best qualified and whomever can do the best job, should get the gig.

There are going to be 4 broadcast teams every single week. Perhaps there will be some broadcasters who rotate in and out of the booth. I'd prefer that it's 4 distinct teams that work together every week. In the AAF, they had some distinct teams but they rotated talents in and out. One week Mike Smith was on board, the next Brian Billick, and then Steve Mariucci. There were others as well.

https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/statu ... 38369?s=20

Pat McAfee released a hilarious tweet today responding to the news that he is going to be calling college football games on ESPN. With him officially in the ESPN fold. This opens the door for him to be a part of the XFL come February.

The fabulous Sports Babe, back, in her prime, would have been awesome on an XFL broadcast. As an old Seattle guy, I loved her on KJR. In it reboot infancy though, the XFL must put TALENT above anything else including political correctness.
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