ESPN play-by-play announcer Beth Mowins inside the broadcast booth at the American Softball Association (ASA) Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma prior to a telecast of the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s College World Series softball tournament on May 31, 2018. Photo credit: Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images.
By Oliver Tse
Email: workingnow88@workingnow88.com
Twitter: @workingnow88
Published on August 25, 2018. Updated on October 10, 2019 and February 9, 2022.
Sportscaster Beth Mowins was featured in Episode 5 of the “Unstoppable” documentary video series profiling women involved with the National Football League (NFL). The video was shot in the San Francisco Bay Area on August 23-24, 2018, while Mowins was assigned by the Oakland Raiders syndicated television network to call television play-by-play of the Oakland Raiders vs Green Bay Packers NFL pre-season game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California. Courtesy NFL/Oakland Raiders/Marriott International via Facebook.
OAKLAND, California – Ever since 51-year-old legendary ESPN/CBS Sports/NFL Oakland Raiders English-language television play-by-play announcer Beth Mowins was a child growing up in North Syracuse, New York, she had wanted to become a sports television play-by-play announcer.
As one of the many American girls who reaped the benefits of Title IX (which provided federal funding to schools to guarantee equal access to sports for students of both genders), Mowins was able to play competitive sports as a student, first at Cicero-North Syracuse High School…
Beth Mowins was a 3-sport athlete (basketball, soccer, softball) as a member of the Class of 1985 at Cicero-North Syracuse High School in Cicero, New York. Photo courtesy Syracuse Post-Standard via syracuse.com.
…and then at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania where she was the captain of the women’s basketball team during the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons.
Beth Mowins in action as a point guard during the 1986-87 basketball season at Lafayette College, where she set the single-season (200) and career (751) assist records in school history. Photo courtesy Lafayette College.
Mowins returned home in August 1989 to pursue her dream by enrolling in the Master of Science degree program at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
While attending Newhouse, Mowins interned at the sports news department at WTVH-TV CBS 5 Syracuse, where she worked at the station’s James Street studios under then sports news director/weekday sports anchor John Eves, and sports reporter/weekend sports anchor Mike Tirico who would go on to build a legendary sports television broadcasting career himself at ESPN and NBC Sports Group.
From left to right: U.S. English-language television sportscasters Beth Mowins (ESPN/CBS Sports/Oakland Raiders), Mike Tirico (NBC Sports), Bob Costas (MLB Network), and Sean McDonough (ESPN) after Tirico received the Marty Glickman Award for Leadership in Sports Media from the S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University on November 14, 2017. Costas received the inaugural award in 2013, Mowins received the award in 2015, and McDonough received the award in 2016. Photo credit: Kristin O’Grady/Syracuse University.
After Eves won a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction in 1991 for the first FM radio station license for the Village of Homer (population approximately 3400, located 31 miles/50 km south of Syracuse along Interstate Highway 81), Eves switched positions with Tirico at WTVH-TV before Eves ultimately left to build and operate his own radio station, WXHC-FM 101.5. Eves hired Mowins as the first employee of the station, as Mowins presented and reported both news and sports, as well as called play-by-play of High School American Football on Friday nights during the Autumn.
Former WXHC-FM (Homer, New York) news and sports director Beth Mowins and station owner John Eves during one of her return visits to the station in the 1990s. Photo courtesy WXHC-FM.
Mowins began working as a play-by-play announcer at all-sports media conglomerate ESPN, Inc. in 1994, first specializing in women’s college sports. Mowins has been the signature voice of the Women’s College World Series (NCAA Division I Women’s Softball Championship) tournament for the past 20 years.
Over the years, Mowins has called the final game of NCAA Division I Women’s Championships in basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball. Mowins has also called play-by-play of FIFA Women’s World Cup matches in 2003 and 2011.
On Sunday, December 9, 2001, Santa Clara University Broncos midfielder Aly Wagner (USA) scored the only goal during the 2001 NCAA Division I Women’s College Cup Final against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park, Texas, USA. Wagner would make sports television history in June 2018 when she became the first woman in the English-speaking world to serve as match analyst/co-commentator of a men’s FIFA World Cup TV broadcast for FOX Sports (US). Play-by-play commentator: Beth Mowins (USA). Match analyst/co-commentator: Julie Foudy (USA). Courtesy NCAA/Veritone/ESPN, Inc.
While at ESPN, Mowins was granted permission to pursue freelance work, including television play-by-play of the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2002-2003 before WUSA folded due to financial losses reportedly exceeding $100 million.
2002 Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) All-Star Game from PGE Park (since renamed Providence Park) in Portland, Oregon, as broadcast on U.S. free-to-air terrestrial broadcast television network PAX TV (since renamed ION Television). Play-by-play announcer: Beth Mowins. Match analyst: Tony Diccico. Touchline reporter: Eric Frede.
Mowins began calling play-by-play of American College Football on the networks of ESPN in 2005.
UCLA Bruins scored 50 points during the second half of its American College Football game at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington on Saturday, September 21, 2019 to defeat Washington State University Cougars by the score of 67-63. Originally aired on U.S. all-sports pay TV network ESPN. Play-by-play announcer: Beth Mowins. Game analyst: Anthony Becht. Sideline reporter: Rocky Boiman. Courtesy PAC-12 Conference/Washington State University/ESPN, Inc.
In 2015, the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) hired Mowins to call television play-by-play of its regionally-televised pre-season games.
From left to right: 4-time NFL Super Bowl Champion and former Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders linebacker Matt Millen, Raiders Television Network play-by-play announcer Beth Mowins, and game analyst and former Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon from the broadcast booth at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum prior to the Detroit Lions at Oakland Raiders NFL pre-sesaon game on August 10, 2018. Photo courtesy Beth Mowins via Twitter: @bethmowins
Mowins would shatter the glass ceiling on September 11, 2017, when she became the first woman to call television play-by-play of a nationally-televised (and also internationally-televised via ESPN-branded networks outside the U.S.) NFL game on site from the stadium (and the 2nd woman overall to call NFL television play-by-play after Tampa Bay Area television news personality Gayle Sierens called play-by-play of the Kansas City Chiefs vs Seattle Seahawks game for a regional telecast on NBC Sports on December 27, 1987)…
WFLA-TV “News Channel 8” (Tampa, Florida) television news anchor Gayle Sierens (who retired in May 2015 after 38 years with the station) appeared in the studio of NBC Sports in New York City as guest of the NFL Live pre-game show on U.S. free-to-air terrestrial broadcast television network NBC on Sunday, September 11, 1988 with host Len Berman and legendary play-by-play announcer Lindsay Nelson. Sierens was the first woman to call television play-by-play commentary of a National Football League (NFL) game when she called Kansas City Chiefs vs Seattle Seahawks game for regional broadcast on selected U.S. free-to-air terrestrial broadcast television stations affiliated with the NBC broadcast network on Sunday, December 27, 1987. Courtesy NFL/NBC Sports Group.
…when Mowins called play-by-play of the second game of the ESPN NFL Monday Night Football doubleheader from Bronco Stadium at Mile High in Denver, Colorado, where the Broncos were hosting the Los Angeles Chargers. Mowins would call the game along with former Buffalo Bills and New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and Mexico City-based bilingual ESPN Deportes/ESPN Latin America reporter Sergio Dipp.
CBS Sports was also able to obtain permission from ESPN to hire Mowins on a freelance basis to call 3 NFL games for regional telecasts during the 2017 season. Mowins partnered with former Chicago Bears kicker Jay Feely, who established his reputation as an outspoken sports media personality from his frequent appearances on the Jim Rome Show on CBS Sports Radio (with television simulcast on CBS Sports Network), where host Jim Rome expects his regular guests and callers to “Have a take, don’t suck.”
ESPN has assigned Mowins to call play-by-play of the first game of the NFL Monday Night Football doubleheader on September 10, 2018. Mowins will call the New York Jets at Detroit Lions game from Ford Field in Downtown Detroit with former NFL quarterback Brian Griese as game analyst and beauty pageant contest winner (Miss Florida 2012)-turned sports television personality Laura Rutledge (née McKeeman) as reporter.
I spoke with Mowins via telephone on the morning of August 24, 2018, before she began her long day of preparation prior to calling play-by-play of the Green Bay Packers at Oakland Raiders NFL pre-season game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
workingnow88: Ms. Mowins, you have called play-by-play of American College Football for the networks of ESPN since 2005. In recent years, the world of intercollegiate athletics had multiple scandals involving violations of Title IX requirements pertaining to timely and accurate reporting of mistreatment and abuse (both physical and sexual) of women (students, staff, and faculty) on university campuses by “student-athletes” and athletics department personnel. May I get your reaction to the way the Trustees of The Ohio State University conducted their business before they ultimately decided to suspend Head Football Coach Urban Meyer and Athletic Director Gene Smith for only 1 month?
Beth Mowins: I think that everybody in college football still has a lot of questions about what exactly happened and I think we will get those answers in the coming weeks and coming months when more and more people will have the opportunity to look into what exactly was going on. So, I am ready to reserve my judgment until we find out all that information.
Related: Public Records related to the investigation into allegations involving Urban Meyer
workingnow88: Congratulations to you on being assigned by ESPN to call play-by-play of NFL Monday Night Football, an iconic American television institution since 1970, for the second straight year. In your opinion, how many more years will you have to call Monday Night Football play-by-play before the majority of the American public will consider the assignment of female play-by-play announcers to call NFL games to be “normal” instead of being perceived as a “novelty act”, “a public relations event”, or “a token for political correctness”?
Mowins: I think it will take ONE year. I think that there were obviously a lot of interest in it last year since it were something new and different, and I was really pleased with the way our entire crew called that game. And honestly, the build-up to this (season’s) Monday Night Football has really been business as usual. I think everybody in this industry want an opportunity to get some big jobs and prove yourself and to succeed at the highest level I think we already did that last year. And honestly, I don’t think there has much hullabaloo at all heading into the Jets-Lions game and I think that is a real sign of progress in our industry.
workingnow88: Since ESPN assigned you to call play-by-play of NFL Monday Football in 2017, other sports TV executives have noticed the amount of positive publicity generated by your assignment and have decided to “Worship at the Church of What’s Working Now” by “borrowing” the idea. In the U.S., Lisa Byington (FOX Sports/Big Ten Network)…
…and Kate Scott (PAC 12 Networks) got their opportunities to call college football television play-by-play for the first time in their careers.
In the case of Byington, FOX Sports executive Mark Silverman gave her opportunities to call additional college football games on Big Ten Network, and FOX Sports gave Byington the opportunity and honor of calling television play-by-play of a recent men’s Major League Soccer (MLS) match that featured the first ever all-female English-language broadcast team for a men’s professional team sports event taking place at a stadium in the U.S.:
Internationally, the number of women who have called television play-by-play of the FIFA Men’s World Cup jumped from just one woman from 1994 through 2014, French-Canadian sportscaster Claudine Douville of Canadian French-language all-sports TV network Le Réseau des Sports (RDS):
Highlights from Final Match of FIFA Men’s World Cup Russia 2018 (France vs Croatia on July 15, 2018) as broadcast on Canadian French-language all-sports pay TV network Le Réseau des Sports (RDS). Commentators: Claudine Douville (play-by-play), Jean Gounelle (analysis). Courtesy FIFA/RDS.
… to 9 women in 2018. 5 out of those 9 women were assigned to TV broadcast crews featuring 100% women…
…3 out of the 9 women called play-by-play of the final match (France vs Croatia on July 15), of which 2 women, Mexican play-by-play announcers Iris Cisneros and Gaby Fernández de Lara, called the final match on site for Televisa Canal 9 (El Nueve) from Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Highlights from Final Match of FIFA Men’s World Cup Russia 2018 (France vs Croatia on July 15, 2018) as broadcast on Mexican free-to-air terrestrial TV network Televisa Canal 9 (El Nueve). Commentators from left to right: Iris Cisneros (play-by-play), Ana Caty Hernández (analysis), Gaby Fernández de Lara (play-by-play). Courtesy FIFA/Televisa Deportes
Furthermore, the youngest of the 9 women who called 2018 FIFA World Cup TV play-by-play, 20-year-old Brazilian journalism student Isabelly Morais, won a nationally-televised talent reality show contest Narra Quem Sabe…
…and was given the opportunity and honor by all-sports pay TV entity FOX Sports Brasil to call the opening match (Russia vs Saudi Arabia on June 14, 2018)…
…the first group stage match involving Brazil (vs Switzerland on June 17, 2018), Semifinal #2 (Croatia vs England on July 11, 2018), and the 3rd-place match (Belgium vs England on July 14, 2018) despite having only 8 months of prior professional play-by-play experience, all on radio.
20-year-old Brazilian journalism student Isabelly Morais made her professional debut as a play-by-play announcer when she called the América Mineiro vs ABC Brazilian 2nd Division (Série B do Campeonato Brasileiro) match for Rádio Inconfidência (AM 880) Minas Gerais from Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on November 7, 2017. Courtesy CBF/SporTV/Rádio Inconfidência
Ms. Morais follows you on Twitter and I have no doubt that she considers you to be one of her role models despite the fact that she lives over 6000 miles (9700 km) away from you, she has never met you in person…
Mowins: (laughter)
workingnow88: …and she broadcasts in a language (Brazilian Portuguese) you don’t speak. May I have your take on your impact on all these women around the world who are getting their shots at calling play-by-play of big time men’s professional team sports events?
Mowins: I think it’s absolutely fabulous. And I think a lot of it goes back to Title IX. And it goes back to opportunities for women to play sports from a very early age and for women to be sports fans at a very early age. And so, I knew when I was younger I wanted to be a sportscaster and get into play-by-play. And I think more and more women are doing that at a younger age or more and more women who are already sportscasters feel like, OK, that’s something actually I would really like to do and I think I can be better at that. So they’ve been given opportunities to pursue that. There are so many ways to get your foot in the door now and so many opportunities. It’s great to have that kind of impact (as we) get closer to that day where we’re just sportscasters and not necessary female sportscasters. That’s the goal.
workingnow88: With the idea of an alternate TV broadcast with all-female announcers on site for the Final Match of FIFA Men’s World Cup already implemented on July 15 by Televisa Deportes of Mexico, how soon do you believe the same idea will be implemented for the NFL Super Bowl on U.S. English-language television? Perhaps as soon as Super Bowl LIV in February 2020 with FOX having the U.S. rights (knowing that FOX Sports National Networks President Mark Silverman, who is in charge of all-sports pay TV network FS1, is the biggest champion of Lisa Byington inside the FOX Sports organization), or possibly Super Bowl LIII in February 2019 with CBS having the U.S. rights (as Pro Football Hall-of-Fame broadcasters Lesley Visser and Andrea Kremer both currently work for CBS Sports)? Hypothetically, how would you approach such an historic assignment if CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus were to present you with the opportunity and honor of calling play-by-play of Super Bowl LIII on an alternate all-female TV broadcast on pay-TV channel CBS Sports Network?
Mowins: Well obviously it’s an honor to be able to have opportunities to call some of the events that you watched growing up as a kid. We’re not in the room making those decisions so that would all be hypothetical at this point. And I think the important thing is: you want to earn those opportunities. And you want to get assignments based on merit and what you have accomplished and what people think you are good enough to do. So, we’ll see if that comes to fruition. Obviously, everybody would love to call a Super Bowl one day, so we’ll see.
workingnow88: Based on your Twitter feed, you are a supporter of English Premier League club Chelsea FC.
Mowins: That is correct.
workingnow88: British sports TV host/presenter Rebecca Lowe, who has worked for NBC Sports Group in the U.S. for the last 5 years and is now eligible to apply for U.S. Citizenship, and who now lives in a million-dollar home on a gated country club golf course in Northern California “Gold Country”…
Mowins: (Incredulously) WHAT?
NBC Sports English Premier League host/presenter Rebecca Lowe (ENG) spoke at the Street Soccer USA press conference in Sacramento, California on Wednesday, August 15, 2018. Lowe’s colleague, NBC Sports English Premier League studio pundit Kyle Martino (USA), is the National Board Chair of Street Soccer USA. Courtesy Rebecca Lowe via Instagram: @rebeccalowetv
workingnow88: That is correct. I looked up Rebecca Lowe’s home address (via open source public records). She does live in a million-dollar home on a gated country club golf course in Northern California “Gold Country” (approximately 120 miles/200 km northeast of San Francisco) and she commutes 2500 miles (4000 km) each way to her job each weekend at NBC Sports Group in Stamford, Connecticut (approximately 50 miles/80 km from JFK Airport in New York City) to host English Premier League studio shows. Lowe stated emphatically in an August 6 podcast interview by Toronto-based sports media critic Richard Deitsch (of The Athletic and Rogers Media’s all-sports radio station CJCL-AM “Sportsnet 590 The Fan”) that she believes these special all-female TV broadcast crews for men’s professional team sports events “set back the progress of women in broadcasting” and she is strongly against the idea of having these special all-female TV broadcast crews, particularly during International Women’s Weekend around March 8 each year, because she believes that the assignment of women to call men’s professional team sports on TV should be “natural” and “organic”…
workingnow88: Ms. Lowe made these comments despite the fact that her first professional sports television experience was anything but “natural” or “organic”, as she won a special talent contest organized by the BBC to earn her first 6-month contract as a reporter on BBC Radio and Television in 2002.
Knowing that women working in sports television in the U.S. rarely if ever criticize another female colleague in public, are you able to give me your take on Ms. Lowe’s comments in the most diplomatic language you can possibly come up with?
Mowins: I actually am a huge Rebecca Lowe fan, and I am a huge fan of the Richard Deitsch podcast…I think that it’s important for all women to put themselves in a position to earn the opportunities, and that all we strive for is a chance. If the assignment comes our way, you do the best you can with the assignment. Sometimes that’s working with a lot of guys. More and more that’s working with a lot of other women. I welcome any group of sportscasters and analysts I can work with…It’s important for all the women in this business to keep working hard to do what they love to do.
Related: Is NBC Sports English Premier League host/presenter Rebecca Lowe a selfish diva?
workingnow88: Best of luck to you, Beth. Hope we can talk again.
