Prime Video figures talk NWSL access

Prime Video’s first season of National Women’s Soccer League coverage has seen a lot of notable moments. Their broadcasts (25 Friday night matches, including tonight’s clash with the Houston Dash at the Kansas City Current, plus the season-opening kickoff match and a quarterfinal playoff match) have featured significant investment in on-site travel and production, as play-by-play voice Mike Watts and senior coordinating producer Betsy Riley discussed with AA in a piece posted earlier Friday. But a further challenge there has been balancing their broadcasts both for long-time NWSL fans and for those who have recently discovered the league amongst the rising interest in it and in women’s sports in general.

Watts is well-qualified to discuss that, as he began calling NWSL games in 2014. That was the league’s third year of existence, and he was just 21 at the time, making him their youngest commentator. He’s stuck around through the years and a variety of platforms and networks, but noted to AA earlier how he feels the investment Prime Video parent company Amazon has put into this differentiates their broadcasts. And he said he fully recognizes the need to appeal to both the fans who were there through earlier, rougher times for the league and those who are now discovering it.

“It’s not lost on me, the amount of effort it took from the players, from clubs, from ownership, from fans, to take this from where we were in 2013 and 2014 to where we are right now. So the way I go about my preparation and the way I sort of view the league is through the lens of everyone sort of pulling this along in the early years and keeping this thing alive, because the two previous professional leagues had died off in three years.”

Watts said he thinks about those long-time fans when preparing for game broadcasts, but he also wants to make sure new fans feel welcomed.

“It definitely impacts every game that I call. It impacts the the way I see players progress over time; ultimately, having that institutional knowledge is in and of itself valuable. So I definitely try and speak to that fan. But I also recognize that gatekeeping in our sport isn’t going to help it grow any faster. So, you know, the way we introduce people to clubs and players at times can feel monotonous, but we recognize that in the grand scheme, we’re able to welcome in this whole new audience that just wasn’t aware of the atmosphere at our stadiums, the level of play in our league, the caliber of human that that we have in our league, and the unbelievable personalities that we have.”

Riley said she also thinks it’s vital to appeal to both of those groups.

“One thing we’ve talked a lot about, we’ve really talked about sort of broadening the tent and making it inclusive. So you want to find that balance between being credible, you don’t want to insult your hardcore fans, right? You want them to come back every Friday night. Those rabid fans have been supporting this sport and this league and these athletes for many, many years, and you want to welcome them with open arms.”

She said Watts and the rest of the on-air team (including primary match analyst Lori Lindsey, match and sideline analyst Lianne Sanderson, sideline analyst and contributor Kealia Watt, sideline reporter Britney Eurton, and more) have done a great job of balancing that.

“At the same time, when people stumble upon this, we want to give them rooting interests. We want to give them reasons to come back. So I think Mike’s probably tired of hearing it, but the phrase we often use, and I often use, is ‘Add the parenthetical.’ So when you’re using a phrase that might be an insider phrase, add the parenthetical.

“You don’t have to dumb it down. You shouldn’t. We don’t want you to dumb it down. We want this to be a sophisticated broadcast. But we also want it to be inclusive, so find that balance, add the extra sentence, so that for the newer fans, you can help educate them on the game and and turn them into maybe a little bit more than casual fans, turn them into fans who return week over week. …[Mike] does an excellent job at that.”

A key part of bringing in new fans has been the high-access segments Prime Video has been able to do. Watts said buy-in from players has been crucial there.

“We just pitched an idea for our game in Kansas City this week; they’ve got a brand new stadium, state-of-the-art, and everything’s really exciting about that. And we pitched them ‘Hey, can we can do MTV Cribs with your new stadium with like, the classic 90s cuts, really make it feel like that show.’ And we’ve got a player who maybe is as vibrant a personality as we have in the league in Lo’eau LaBonta , who’s like ‘I love that show, and I love that idea, I can’t wait to do it with you guys.'”

Watts said he thinks those segments help show off just who’s playing in this league and how interesting they are.

“People should know that we’ve got these kinds of personalities. So it’s ‘How do we best put them on display?’ Ultimately, it’s not lost on me that there is an opportunity here to promote and respect the the history of the clubs, and also there’s this next frontier for these clubs, players, fans to reach a whole new audience, and to balance coverage in that way.”

Riley said Prime Video is able to do that from the relationships they’ve built with these players, some of which comes from employing long-time NWSL figures like Watts and Lindsey. And she said she thinks those relationships are key to storytelling, and that’s crucial to do in soccer (especially on pregame and halftime segments) given some of the characteristics of the sport.

“We think it all starts with trust. When they trust you, they also trust you with their stories. And I think that for fans, it’s important to give them rooting interest. And when you think about the way soccer is covered, by necessity, soccer is covered from a high camera angle so that you can see the chess match, the angles as they’re unfolding. That’s absolutely important for game coverage of this sport. It’s a continuous sport.

“You don’t have, like football, sort of natural stoppages where you can stop, and you have 20 seconds to either tell the story of the game through replays and analysis or tell the story of the players and the coach. It’s continuous flow.

“So I think what we really try to do is kind of get down lower to ground level when we have the opportunities and tell the stories of the players and the coaches with behind-the-scenes access, day-in-the life access. You find a lot of that happens pre-match, halftime, postgame, with things like in-game interviews or arrival interviews.”

Riley said there’s incredible value to those interviews in building fandom for the long-term.

“It allows you to see the players’ faces, the coaches’ faces. It allows you to get to know them as people. And I think for us it’s really important because again, back to what I said, it gives fans very real rooting interest as they get to know these players. As they start to fall in love with the players and the characters, of course they fall in love with the sport as well. We want to be there to cover the sport holistically and in a really credible way. And then also we want to be there to supplement that coverage with coverage of the players who play and the coaches who coach, the principals involved.”

And Watts said the access they’ve received, including to coaches’ speeches, really helps. He also said the access helps them lighten the mood at times with some bit-based comedy.

“Getting the coach’s speeches in the huddles or in locker rooms before players take the field is unique to to our coverage historically. If you look at some of the more sort of sketch-based, bit-based comedy that that we’ve attempted to do over the course of the year, the second show out of the gate, the two coaches involved primarily sit on coolers during games, so we did an entire bit about that, led the show with it . And it’s ‘We have this idea,’ and then you’ve got all these just top-level professionals that allow you to take it three steps further than you thought it could go.”

He said the Prime team is focused on trying to make each broadcast special. One recent example there was a full day with Racing Louisville FC head coach Bev Yanez on the day before a match.

“Trying to make it unique and feel special week to week, and starting with a completely clean format every Monday and coming up with a show that people want to watch on Friday has been really cool for me, and and for the partners I work with.

“Having Louisville help us get Yanez’s entire match day minus-one lead up with her kids and with her husband and getting to the stadium, that’s content that you see on Thursday Night Football , but you have not seen in women’s sports in general, or in the NWSL. It’s just a lot of unique angles, and it has been pretty remarkable. It ultimately all goes back to the game, but the way we’ve been able to find different ways to go at it has been really cool.”

Watts said he does think it’s critical to continue to present top-level match coverage in addition to these interviews and access moments, but the storytelling at appropriate times can elevate broadcasts.

“The game is always the game. And we want to try and cover this at the highest level possible, because that’s ultimately what the NWSL and its fans deserve. But the ability to storytell around individuals, around work that the clubs are doing to build within communities, that’s been different.”

He said a key part of that has been Amazon’s commitment to producing these matches on site and sending the on-air team there early, including for practices the day before.

“Being on site makes a substantial difference in terms of the interpersonal relationships that you’re able to make and the level of content that that you’re ultimately able to produce. A lot of the clever ideas that we’ve had in the past, it’s been tough to execute those. Amazon has given us the ability here to to try and look at this uniquely and really try and stretch capabilities and possibilities to give people a different viewpoint than they’ve ever had, or a different vantage point than they’ve ever had.”

Riley said they’ve seen good response for their broadcasts so far, and some of that has been about the consistent Friday night window.

“We love having a consistent window. It’s no secret we have Thursday Night Football , we have NWSL on Friday nights. And we know viewers have to take a couple of extra steps to find us, so having that consistent day of the week is useful; you can’t sort of stumble into us as easily as you might stumble into something on cable. So we think it’s quite great that we can own Friday nights and really kick off the NWSL weekend.”

There have been some fun moments on these broadcasts, too, including Watts doing some Taylor Swift bits . He said it’s crucial to him to balance that with traditional and serious calls, though.

“I’ve always sort of gone by the the belief if we’re not having fun, nobody else is. There’s definitely a balance to it. A lot of people with the Taylor Swift bit were unaware it was happening until after it happened; I’ve played wordsneak on many, many games, and the goal, the optimal outcome, is that you were subtle enough that not everyone understood what you were doing.

“Ultimately. I want to pay proper respect to the players in the game to the league, to the fans, by doing a professional job. I also recognize that this is still entertainment, from the players on the field to the broadcast. Ultimately, we just want to make sure, if we’re not having fun, nobody else is. I mean, that’s really the crux of it. The bits have a place, we recognize we can’t overtake coverage.

Watts said some of the judgement there also involves bouncing things off his broadcast teammates, and making sure the bits work for them.

“There’s going to be moments where that might be a little exhausting, but that’s my personality playing a role in it, I’m certainly not oblivious to that. But we’ve got such a great fan base, and I think they sort of thankfully have a similar sense of humor on a large scale that I do. And getting to work with people that sort of understand that humor and play into it while also retaining that expert-level analysis. And especially Lori, she’s sort of my perfect sidekick in some of these bits, but just the perfect partner on air for me. And Lianne and Kealia make this all a lot easier as well. It’s a team effort, and it’s a balance.”

And there is an overall understanding here of the seriousness of the competition in this league, and in women’s sports in general. As Full Court Press director Kristen Lappas told AA about her college basketball docuseries earlier this year, it’s critical to present women’s sports in a way where it’s seen as “as intense” as men’s sports, and in a way where “teammates aren’t always best friends.” Riley said she thinks that understanding of the competition and the stakes involved definitely comes through in Prime Video’s NWSL coverage.

“I don’t think you can play professional sports and not be incredibly competitive and have that instinct. I think for us, that’s part of the sport and part of the game. …For me, I’ve grown up playing sports and I happen to be a woman, so to me there’s no shock that when you’re watching professional athletes compete, they want to win and and they work really hard to win.

“Additionally, I’ve spent a lot of my career covering Olympic sports like track and field, so I have an up close and personal history with the world champion mentality, the gold medalist mentality. And that’s very consistent to me across sports and across genders and does not discriminate. The women who step onto that pitch want to win. And I think that’s a fun part, that’s a very natural part of sports. That’s what we love about it. We are there to cover a game and there are individuals on that pitch who are there to win that game.”

Prime Video will feature the Houston Dash at the Kansas City Current on Friday, June 28 at 8 p.m. ET and the Portland Thorns at the San Diego Wave Friday, July 5 at 10 p.m. ET.

The post ‘It all starts with trust’: Betsy Riley and Mike Watts discuss how Prime Video’s NWSL coverage got key off-field access appeared first on Awful Announcing .