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The New England Revolution will play their first game of the season on national television when they make their first-ever appearance at Audi Field this Sunday. It will be a historic event, as the broadcast crew will be exclusively female. This will be the first time this has ever happened in an English broadcast of professional soccer, according to the Athletic.
The broadcasters are Lisa Byington on play-by-play, Danielle Slaton as the analyst, and Katie Witham as the sideline reporter.
Slaton and Witham have both been in the industry for a while, covering the MLS for Fox Sports. They have also covered other sports, both professional and collegiate. Meanwhile, Byington isn’t known for broadcasting in the soccer world as much but has been a broadcaster for collegiate athletics and the WNBA.
Byington, Slaton, and Witham all seem poised to make the most of this opportunity, which will be a huge step forward for females in the broadcasting industry. Plenty of soccer fans should be tuning in to see Brad Friedel’s Revs try to get back on track against Wayne Rooney and the red-hot DC United, who are coming off a huge stoppage-time winner against Orlando City thanks to an incredible Rooney assist and Luciano Acosta hat trick.
Check out Slaton interviewing Rooney after this weekend’s match and get a sneak peek at what we should expect to see on Sunday!