Fox Sports poised to make history
For coverage of D.C. United’s match today against the New England Revolution, Fox Sports has assigned a former U.S. national soccer team defender to handle analysis and a onetime college player with years of sports broadcasting experience to do the play-by-play. The sideline reporter has worked MLS games since 2005.
Based on those portfolios, FS1’s presentation from Audi Field won’t differ much from other matches.
This one, however, is unique, because for the first time on the national broadcast of a U.S. men’s pro soccer match — and, it is believed, for the first time in any of the country’s five major men’s professional team sports leagues — the announcing team will be entirely female.
will call the evening match. will join her in the booth and work at field level.
“I’m excited to be a part of history but looking forward to the day when it isn’t so historic,” Slaton said. “We’ll just go out and do our jobs like we do every day and keep the game as the main focus and try to have some fun.”
All spoke about the significance of the all-female crew and how they hoped it would continue breaking down barriers for women interested in pursuing announcing jobs in men’s sports leagues. They all cited advances in the business, led by the likes of (NFL),
(NBA), (Major League Baseball) and (2018 World Cup in Russia).
Doing their job well, they emphasized, would outweigh their gender.
“It’s an honor to be a part of this and be able to take a step forward,” Witham said. “And it’s my hope that, after this game is said and done, nobody will be talking about it, because then they will not have looked at us as females calling a male professional soccer game. They will be looking at us like play-by-play, analysts and reporters covering an event.”
To varying degrees, all played soccer and have covered the sport professionally.
Witham played at Capital University — a Division III program in Columbus, Ohio — and began her broadcast career in earnest in 2005 as the sideline reporter for MLS’ Columbus Crew. She has been affiliated with Fox Sports’ soccer coverage for nine years, including national team matches. She has also worked games for the Big Ten Network and contributed to MLS’ digital operations.
Slaton, a former Santa Clara University star, made 43 appearances (26 starts) for the U.S. national team between 1999 and 2003. She joined the Big Ten Network in 2010 and, since 2014, has worked college, pro and international matches for multiple outlets, including Fox Sports at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. In 2016, MLS’ San Jose Earthquakes hired her for sideline reporting and analysis.
Byington has the least experience with pro soccer. Her primary assignments are football and basketball. She played two seasons of soccer (along with four of basketball) at Northwestern and has worked NCAA soccer and National Women’s Soccer League games. will