It may be rare for women to broadcast men’s sports, but one prominent former female athlete believes she can be the next to break through.
In a Los Angeles Times piece, Sparks TV analyst Lisa Leslie expressed a desire to “cover men’s basketball on a national level.” Leslie: “I love broadcasting because it keeps me close to the sport. I really just love talking about the game. It kind of comes easy to me because I know what it’s like to be out there.”
Leslie has the endorsement of TNT analyst Charles Barkley, who told the L.A. Times it would be “cool to work with her.”
The odds would appear to be stacked against Leslie. Women are typically relegated to the role of sideline reporter on men’s sports telecasts — even those who have played the game. Basketball Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller serves as a sideline reporter for TNT NBA games (although she frequently works as a studio analyst for NBA TV), while current and former WNBA players such as Becky Hammon, Kara Lawson and Stacey Dales have roamed the sidelines for ESPN’s NBA coverage.
With the exception of Miller on NBA TV, there are no female NBA studio analysts. Doris Burke is the only female game analyst, though she slides down to the role of sideline reporter for ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals.
If Leslie were to become an NBA (or men’s college basketball) broadcaster, she would join a select group of women working as either a play-by-play or color analyst for a men’s sport — including the aforementioned Burke and ESPN college football announcers Beth Mowins and Pam Ward.
(Los Angeles Times, via Fang’s Bites)
