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Rebecca Lowe Forced To Take Hiatus

Jason Barrett

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Seven weeks remain in an improbable Premier League season. If you are Rebecca Lowe, who very ably hosts NBCSN’s Premier League coverage, there is no better place to be these days than the network’s studio in Stamford, Conn.

But Lowe will have to watch the season’s final weeks from home. She is eight and a half months pregnant, and after Sunday’s eagerly awaited Manchester Derby between United and City, she will begin her maternity leave.

“The season is so long, and if you’re female and you want to have a baby, there’s never a good time,” she said. “The season is 10 months long. Of all the seasons in the Premier League, it’s typical that this is arguably been the best one and I won’t be there for the end.”

The baby, her first, is a boy. Lowe’s husband, Paul Buckle, who has two children from a previous marriage, coaches Sacramento Republic F.C. in the United Soccer League and will return to their home in Connecticut as often as possible.

“My mom is coming over next week,” Lowe said.

Since being hired in 2013 from ESPN UK, Lowe has become the defining face of the Premier League at the NBC Sports Group, part of the extensive British influence imported by the network. The coverage has been a critical and viewing success — an average of 530,000 viewers for each match window this season on NBCSN, NBC and USA, up 9 percent from last year at this time.

Last August, as NBC was about to start the final season of its current three-year deal, it retained the Premier League rights for another six years for $1 billion. Lowe signed a similarly long contract.

“My husband and I had a Plan A, if we kept the rights, and a Plan B if we didn’t,” she said. “We brought our lives to the U.S. and to NBC. We want to make this our life, and it would have been harder if we didn’t get the rights.”

Thirty-eight weeks of exposure on television have raised Lowe’s profile in the United States, but as a homebody who works outside Manhattan, she says she does not feel widely recognized.

In her absence this spring, Arlo White, the network’s lead play-by-play voice, will fill in for Lowe in the studio for two weeks. Steve Bower will fill in for five.

“It’s impossible to replace her,” said Pierre Moossa, coordinating producer of NBC Sports Group’s Premier League coverage. “She’s really the glue on the set with the announcers. She gets the best out of them. She has a great sense of story, and no one knows the material as well.”

 

 

To continue reading visit the NY Times where this article was originally published

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Erin Andrews Reveals Infertility Journey in Emotional ‘Today Show’ Interview

FOX reporter Erin Andrews sat down with ‘The Today Show’s’ Kristen Welker to discuss her journey, how Welker’s own journey inspired her, and more.

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Erin Andrews

FOX reporter Erin Andrews shared her story of infertility and surrogacy with NBC’s Today Show. Last summer, Andrews and her husband welcomed a baby boy via surrogate after trying for a decade to get pregnant via IVF, during which she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016. Today, she sat down with Kristen Welker to discuss her journey, how Welker’s own journey inspired her, and more.

Andrews says Welker’s announcement on the Today Show made her think a baby could be possible. “I remember Kristin Welker’s announcement on your show,” Andrews said last year, “and I actually watched that the morning Mac was born, because that just hit me.”

When they finally sat down, Welker asked Andrews why her journey resonated with the sports reporter so much:

“Because I see myself in you. Kristen, the video of you moderating debates after you’re waiting on bad news or maybe you just received it, that’s me. I can tell you every stand-up I’ve done at a football game where I’ve gotten the news that it didn’t work. I’d be talking about Tom Brady going for this record and my record is that I still was failing…I would have chest pains every time I was waiting for the call if it worked, and I knew it wouldn’t work.

Erin Andrews on ‘Today’

Andrews knew surrogacy was the only path to having a child. Although her family’s first attempt failed, her second attempt was a success, and she got to hear her child’s heartbeat for the very first time. The pair discuss the complex emotions that come with surrogacy, saying that bonds with their child could be affected because they didn’t carry their child. However, Welker assured Andrews that those feelings go away once you can talk to your child.

Once her son was born in June, who Andrews called, “a miracle,” she then talks about her child glowingly, talking about how he is just like mom — vocal. “He’s all me,” she says.

Andrews supports Baby Quest, a non-profit that grants money to families in need of IVF or surrogacy to have a baby but don’t have the funds to pursue these expensive treatments. Both Andrews and Welker acknowledged how difficult and unattainable their journies are for some families — and Andrews even used the NFL’s “My Cleats, My Cause” initiative to raise awareness for her cause.

“People don’t need to feel embarrassed that they have a surrogate or are looking for other help,” Andrews said.

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Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt to be Lead Fox Sports UFL Broadcast Team

Curt Menefee, Joel Klatt, and Brock Huard will make up the first XFL on FOX announce team, while Kevin Kugler, Devin Gardner, and Jake Butt are the #2 team.

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FOX is ready for the United Football League (UFL) season and recently announced its broadcast lineup for the upcoming season. Curt Menefee returns to the booth alongside Joel Klatt to make up the primary UFL commentary team. Joining Menefee and Klatt from the sidelines will be former NFL and University of Washington QB Brock Huard.

Menefee and Klatt will call the season-opening matchup between the defending two-time USFL Champion Birmingham Stallions and the reigning XFL Champion Arlington Renegades on Saturday, Mar. 30 at 1 p.m. ET. The second team of Kevin Kugler and former Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner will call the second game of the day when the St. Louis Battlehawks take on the Michigan Panthers at 4:00 p.m. ET on FOX. Former Denver Broncos tight end Jake Butt will man the sidelines for that game.

Former NFL and USC QB Mark Sanchez was also mentioned in the FOX news release but details of his involvement were not made clear.

The UFL season kicks off on FOX this weekend and continues over on ESPN. Both networks will split coverage of the league all season long.

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CBS Sports Host James Brown To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Sports Emmys

“I am incredibly humbled by this award. I know full well that it’s not as much about me as it is about all the people with whom…I worked over all these years.”

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James Brown
Courtesy: Mary Kouw, CBS

Longtime CBS Sports host James Brown will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 45th Sports Emmys. The awards show announced the news via its X account last night:

Brown is a three-time Sports Emmy winner for his work on CBS’ The NFL Today and previously FOX’s The NFL On FOX, and HBO’s Inside the NFL. Brown’s career spans more than 30 years and includes numerous accolades such as the Pete Rozelle Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Uncommon Award from Tony Dungy.

He was named “Best Studio Host of the Decade” by Sports Illustrated in 2010 and was honored with the 2009 Dick Schaap Memorial Award for Media Excellence. In 1998 he was awarded the Golden Mic Award by the Black Broadcasters Alliance. Brown was elected into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2021.

“I am incredibly humbled by this award,” Brown said via the Sports Emmys. “I know full well that it’s not as much about me as it is about all the people with whom and for whom I worked over all these years. Thank God for the blessing!”

Sports media came together to honor Brown’s achievement:

Brown and other award recipients will be honored at the Sports Emmys award ceremony in May.

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