Fox will make history on Sunday. An all-female cast of three announcers will lead the broadcast in a top U.S. men’s sports league for the first time ever, according to FOX Sports.
Lisa Byington (play-by-play), Danielle Slaton (analyst) and Katie Witham (reporter/host) will join together to call the DC United vs. New England Revolution match on Sunday evening. The nationally televised game will air live on FS1 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
“We have an excellent team ready to call this match,” FOX Sports producer Shaw Brown said in a news release. “Collectively and individually, they have a strong connection to the game, and I hope each of them continues to get more and more opportunities.”
On the call for @dcunited vs @NERevolution Sunday on @FS1, Lisa Byington, Danielle Slaton and Katie Witham make history as the first three women to exclusively lead a broadcast for any of the five major U.S. men’s professional leagues.
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) August 17, 2018
This isn’t the first time Fox has made soccer broadcasting history of this variety. During the 2018 World Cup, Aly Wagner became the first woman to call a men’s World Cup match on American television (alongside Telemundo’s Viviana Vila). We ranked Aly Wagner and Derek Rae as the best of Fox's broadcasting pairs.
Byington, a former soccer and basketball athlete in college at Northwestern, leads the MLS all-female cast. Slaton is a former USWNT player while Witham, a former college player herself, has won an Emmy and Telly Award.
The DC United-New England Revolution match will include a half-hour pregame show from Audi Field, DC’s new soccer-specific stadium. In addition to checking out the new stadium, the match will be a great chance for fans to watch Wayne Rooney do more amazing things for United.