As Jenny Dell arrives at Kinnick Stadium ahead of an Iowa-Minnesota Big Ten Conference showdown, she is making her final preparations leading up to the Saturday afternoon showcase. During this week, she has 56 stories ready but would consider herself lucky to get three on the air. While viewers predominantly hear the longtime duo of play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler and analyst Gary Danielson, Dell always stays ready to contribute whether or not she is on camera.
Once the game ends, she immediately starts watching film, reading articles and contacting team personnel to prepare for the next week. The rhythm proceeds with little to no respite, but the grind is worth it to gather more information and add to the CBS Sports broadcast.
“The relationships you build Monday through Friday are what makes Saturdays work,” Dell said. “So if I kick off, I want to feel like I already know the story behind the story and the story behind every moment that might unfold, which is nearly impossible.”
Across the country, Fox Sports reporter Jenny Taft is finishing her reporting as Indiana remains undefeated with a 50-point victory over UCLA. Being first on the schedule every Saturday at Noon EST, Taft wakes up before sunrise to review her notes and, mere hours later, seeks to convey them with accuracy and precision to an audience of millions.
“I had a moment recently with Coach Day where he was like, ‘I don’t love to do the halftime interviews, but if you really want to do one, we can do it,’ and I was so proud of that because it felt like he trusts me,” Taft said. “I’ve earned that respect and trust that he knows I’m going to be quick [and] I’m going to ask a good question.”
NBC Sports reporter Kathryn Tappen practiced brevity early in her career covering sports for a local news station, developing an ability to understand when and how she can supplement the game call. The reporting job demands discipline, teamwork and endurance, traits that align with Tappen’s background running track and cross country at Rutgers University. While traversing the sidelines gathering intel and monitoring injuries can lead to fatigue, she says she truly enjoys the work and cannot imagine sitting at a desk for hours on end.
“I think someone who’s looking for the spotlight every single second of the broadcast or someone who wants their voice heard all the time or wants to be a third member of the booth if you will, then it’s not the right role,” Tappen said. “I prefer to provide the assist.”
Even though these three reporters are usually never in the same location at once, they all watch each other’s work and have mutual respect for one another. In fact, Taft stressed the importance of having good WiFi on the flight home to view Dell and Tappen’s broadcasts. Dell views her responsibility as being a conduit between the gridiron and the fans, unearthing stories in real time that go beyond the hashmarks.
“Everyone knows what they can do as an athlete,” Dell said. “They can look at the X’s and O’s, Gary’s incredible at explaining exactly how they’re breaking down a play or what they’re doing on the field, but for me, it’s all about humanizing the athletes in a way where the fans can learn why they should be a fan of this particular player.”
Among the most hectic parts of covering a college football contest is at the conclusion when players and coaches exchange pleasantries with the thrill of victory or agony of defeat. ESPN reporter Katie George, a former college volleyball star at Louisville, routinely rushes to midfield flanked by a cameraperson and security guard. George thinks about some interview topics to ask the victorious coach in advance, but she tries to experience the moments in close games and keep it simple.
“I think that I have to remind myself not to overthink it and just go out there and do it,” George said. “You’re watching the game, you’ve got a feel for the momentum and how crazy this finish is going to be. Just go ask simple questions.”
Along the baseline
George worked with play-by-play announcer Dave O’Brien during her time on ACC Network, and she remembers him emphasizing the importance of versatility. The conversation motivated her to try new things, and over the last year, she has maintained her college football obligations in addition to covering the NBA, Formula One, US Open, and, new for this season, select NFL games on “Monday Night Football.” In order to efficiently compartmentalize and maintain focus, she uses a timer to apportion her preparation and research.
“Somebody was like, ‘Well, what’s your day off?,’” George recalled. “There is none. There is no time off during the season because you’re constantly going from game to game, but it is a lot of fun, and I do think that there’s a skill to being able to cover multiple sports at the same time.”
George had never attended an NBA game prior to covering the Milwaukee Bucks locally, and she remembers practicing how to pronounce star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo’s name as she flew to the city. Although her tenure was short-lived due to joining ESPN about a year later, she became more comfortable on the sidelines and developed connections with the team.
“There’s some designated spots that are really good in football for you to be able to get in, storytell [sic], update the guys, whereas NBA and the flow of the game, it gets more difficult because it’s so fast paced,” George said. “Free throws is a great time if you want to get in as a sideline reporter, coming back from break, but I think just knowing the flow of the sport you’re covering in terms of game flow is really, really important of knowing when to sell your stories to producers.”
Part of the challenge comes from the rise of social media and the access it garners to the general public. Vanessa Richardson, who covers the Houston Rockets for Space City Home Network, considers it part of her job to have a relationship with the fans. Richardson is also keeping a pulse on the organization as it tries to win its first NBA title in three decades and attends every practice and shootaround.
“I truly appreciate Rockets general manager Rafael Stone and head coach Ime Udoka because not only does that build trust with those two, but it builds trust with the entire team because they know that I’m never going to leak anything that I see,” Richardson said. “They know that I have their best interest in mind. Yes, I want to cover the team in a fair manner, but I want all these guys and their families – I want their moms that are watching to know that I’m trying to tell their stories in a way that has integrity.”
Although Michael Grady has moved into play-by-play announcing, he started covering the NBA as a sideline reporter for the Brooklyn Nets on YES Network. Watching Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving practice ahead of games helped him understand what goes into being a great player, and he is grateful to have earned their respect and trust.
“I still carry that over to this day when I’m telling stories of Anthony Edwards and this Timberwolves [team],” Grady said on a recent episode of the SMW Podcast, “and as I build bonds around the league to tell stories on a national level, building that trust and building that connection and being able to better tell those stories helps me to better serve the audience.”
Reporters employed directly by organizations themselves can sometimes deal with ethical dilemmas and editorial constraints. Kendra Douglas, the team reporter for the Orlando Magic, has not had to deal with anyone telling her not to report something and feels comfortable posing challenging questions. For example, Douglas asked Magic forward Paolo Banchero about being more vocal as a leader, and he proceeded to reveal that former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski reached out regarding the topic.
“I think that’s honestly just building that relationship and building that bond,” Douglas said. “To be objective, for sure, and continue to be objective in the way that I report, but allowing them to understand that I’ve asked questions before that doesn’t always go to what’s so negative about them, but getting to know who they are as people.”
Because of the lack of time during a basketball game, Douglas tries to make sure she has evergreen content and can push some stories to other games. When giving a report or conducting an interview, reporters are usually bound to the clock to safeguard against missing game action or getting to a break. Jared Greenberg, a longtime reporter for NBA broadcasts on TNT Sports, made sure never to bury the lede in interviews and ask his most important question from the jump.
“More times than not, nobody cares to come back to you [after a break] so you could finish your thought or give the last 10-15 seconds of your report,” Greenberg explained on an upcoming episode of the SMW Podcast. “You got to go to break. The commercials are the most important thing in our world.”
Adjacent to the action
Jackie Redmond has never had another sideline reporting job outside of her work on TNT Sports covering the NHL. Despite previously working as a studio host on NHL Network, she was able to build relationships with personnel and develop a layered style. Redmond has become an adept interviewer and had a memorable conversation with Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice after the team fell short in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.
“[Sports] make us so happy and so mad and so sad and so inspired, and that’s why we all love it, and so if you can sort of evoke those emotions in people, then I think that we’re doing a good job,” Redmond said. “And so when people bring stuff up after the fact, I think that’s the mark of, ‘You did a good job.’”
Redmond highlights the collaborative nature of the role and credits game producers for their ability to craft a viable network presentation. Even though she travels around the world to fulfill her other obligations reporting on WWE “Raw,” she makes the most of her time in flight to prepare for future assignments, and it has paid dividends.
“There are times where you [go], ‘Oh my gosh, I need to go interview a coach, and I haven’t seen any of this period. What am I going to do?,’ and that’s where you really have to know what’s going on from a story standpoint, at the very least in those spots [in] the season, so that you have something in your back pocket,” Redmond said. “You’re like, ‘Well, this is generic, but it’ll work.’”
TNT Sports and some other networks place an analyst between the benches on hockey broadcasts, but MSG Networks takes a different approach by situating reporter John Giannone in this location for New York Rangers games. Rather than gathering stories in advance, he offers real-time observations and also assists his producers in detecting what transpires, resembling the mentality of a beat reporter.
For example, upon noticing that a puck dented the skate of Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller last season, the broadcast got a shot of an equipment manager running off the bench to quickly remedy the situation. Despite the occupational hazards, such as being hit with a puck right between the eyes in 2013, Giannone feels it is the greatest gig he will ever have.
“It’s as close as anybody could ever get to actually participating without putting on the skates,” Giannone said. “It’s just an amazing vantage point to watch professional hockey, and I never take that for granted when I’m between the benches.”
Hannah Mears has gathered similar stories being close to the playing field while covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. During a game last season, she heard Pirates infielder Enmanuel Valdez declare he was going to hit a home run, and he subsequently followed through at the plate.
“There was even a moment this year where one of our guys got hurt, but I had seen him limping before the play happened, and so we knew then it wasn’t from that play,” Mears said. “Obviously, replays came to support that later, but those are the quick details you can add in to give support to the broadcasters who are above you hundreds of levels up that can’t necessarily see all of that.”
Evolving into the next era
Mears travels with the Pirates and has built trust with the organization. In working for an RSN partially owned by the team, she knows it is not her job to break news and adheres to her responsibilities. Through it all, she does her best to maintain a healthy work-life balance and take care of herself physically and mentally.
“It’s just like sports,” Mears said. “Not everyone’s bringing their best A-game every day either. You just can’t be hard on yourself, [and] you have to be forgiving. You have to realize you’re human, and that’s okay, and things are going to happen, but the more you dwell on it, the worse it’s going to get, so you just have to avoid letting it snowball.”
Many television sideline reporters at the network level are women, some of whom have dealt with unfair criticism throughout their careers. While that trend has not been completely eradicated, it has become less accepted over time.
“The biggest misperception is that our job is useless, and that is incredibly demoralizing for all of us,” Tappen said. “We work really hard, and yes, you might not see us all the time on the broadcast, but there is a lot of hard work that’s going on behind the scenes to help enhance the broadcast.”
“The thing that I like about where the industry is going is you’re seeing more women in more positions, so it’s just not women on the sideline,” Richardson added. “You’re seeing women do play-by-play, you’re seeing women that are producers, you’re seeing women that are in the big chairs at these networks that are making decisions behind the scenes. That’s never been the case before, so I always say we’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve come so far.”
Some companies previously decided to scale back on sideline reporters or eliminate them entirely, but the role has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years and evolved through the rise of digital and streaming platforms.
“You cannot tell me that it’s not worth it to have a Michigan interview with Aidan Hutchinson after Michigan finally beats Ohio State, and the snow is coming down, and I find him, and he’s with his mom and the tears are flowing,” Taft said. “That is a moment that you can’t get without a sideline reporter.”
“We’re literally the eyes and ears of the game,” Douglas added. “We’re the ones that are giving you the behind the scenes of what’s happening, and I think that’s so important.”
With a generation of emerging media professionals building the future of the industry, sideline reporting encompasses storytelling, networking and teamwork. In addition to following journalistic ethics and best practices, the role can have impact across several domains.
To achieve the greatest success in the role, it requires a genuine commitment and understanding that it is more than just an occupation.
“It determines where you go, when you sleep, what holidays you miss,” Richardson said. “It is not a job, it is a lifestyle, so fortunately, I really love it.”
“Whether you’re sitting behind a desk and hosting a segment, or you’re on the sideline in front of 100,000 fans who are screaming and you’re talking to the viewer at home, to me, it’s all about creating that connection with whoever is watching you,” Dell added, “and I feel like that translates through any job that you do on camera.”
