National Football League
Perhaps the most popular sport in America, the National Football League (NFL) is the only sport in this country that can rival the popularity and fandom of football (soccer) in other countries. The league, however, is notorious for its poor treatment of women, with situations like Ray Rice being swept under the rug in order to allow the players to continue dominating in the league. This unfair treatment extends to the women attempting to become female broadcasters for the sport. While Erin Andrews has had some success, she's among the few. While things have gradually begun to change around the league. with the first female ref joining in the 2016-2017 season, here's the current landscape of which genders are broadcasting among the major four broadcasting networks and NFL Network.
Current Landscape
As this infographic shows, all five networks that broadcast NFL games employ women. This is the only sport of the major four who can boast this; however, with the popularity of the sport, there's still plenty of work that needs to be done. The best of the five is the NFL Network, which employs 16 women to cover the sport, the most of any network for any sport. This suggests that the NFL Network understands the importance of having women, not withholding them from commenting on the sport just because they haven't played it. Conversely, ESPN only has 7 women covering the NFL, yet employs 65 men to do the same job. This extreme difference shows that ESPN has yet to embrace women for the sport, and although the NFL Network is setting a great precedent, ESPN has yet to follow their example. The other three networks (NBC, CBS, and FOX), while all employing women for these high-profile positions, do have some ground to make up on the NFL Network, but none nearly as controversial as ESPN.
Treatment of Women
To highlight the differences between how men and women are treated as reporters for the sport, an article posted by Sports Illustrated, entitled "Uphill battle for women in NFL play-by-play roles may soon reach a turning point", explains the history of women in these roles and the future for them. In the article, the author, Richard Deitsch, asserts that with more women reporting on preseason games for the NFL, it has to only be a matter of time before the number of women working regular season games increases. In the article, Kate Scott is highlighted, who currently works as a report for the San Francisco 49ers, who's quoted as saying: "It takes a rare bird to think, 'Hey, absolutely no one that looks or sounds like me is doing this, I think I'll try it!'" This sentiment is something that is powerful to read, as it suggests that because women don't see representation on screen, they don't try to get these jobs. Television as a medium is notorious for constructing how viewers perceive themselves and their capabilities, and sports are no exception. Not only do women not see themselves playing the sport, but they don't even see themselves reporting on the sport, stifling aspirations starting at a young age. According to Scott, this won't change until people are willing to take chances on women for these roles, which unfortunately is happening at a much slower pace than it should. With men in charge of decisions and the majority of viewers being men, it's hard to see this changing anytime soon in the NFL, but as Scott and other women continue to ascend in the field, there's reason to be hopeful that they will help other women follow in their footsteps.