SEATTLE — The Seahawks are making a change in the broadcast booth.
Kate Scott will take over the television play-by-play duties for the Hawks' three preseason games, starting August 10 against the Vikings at Lumen Field.
Scott just finished her second season as the television play-by-play voice of the NBA'S Philadelphia 76ers. While she's called the action for various sports in the past, she's excited about her opportunity with the Seahawks.
"Football has been in my blood since I was a little girl watching it with my pop down in central California," said Scott. "To get an opportunity to call NFL football again and to do it for such a phenomenal organization in a fantastic city, I'm pretty much beside myself with excitement today. I cannot wait to get back to the Pacific Northwest.
Scott is the first full-time female play-by-play broadcaster in Philadelphia and one of the first female broadcasters to do any play-by-play for an NBA team. While she takes a certain amount of pride in those accomplishments, she has her eyes focused on the big picture.
"I'll be honest with you - I'm so focused on the now and getting better as a broadcaster," explained Scott. "It is so important to me that when I leave this industry in 15-20 years, it looks so remarkably different than it did when I started. And in doing so, I've opened the ears and minds of fans to say, 'OK, I didn't think I wanted a chick calling my football games, but maybe this could work.'
"I definitely take pride in what I'm doing now, but I'm going to be really proud when I hang up the microphone in hopefully a couple of decades, that similar to the sports these days how the athletes are reflecting the fans more, I'm really hoping that broadcasting and those covering the sports will be the same and be more reflective of the guys and gals that are playing the sports that they're covering."
Scott wants to appeal to Seahawks fans like she did to Sixers fans two years ago. She wants those fans to give her a try.
"I know that I am so different," said Scott. "That takes some getting used to and we all adjust to changes at a different pace.
"I got some wonderful notes from Sixers fans - people saying thank you for giving me the space to get used to a chick, a woman calling sports."
While Scott is anxious to get back to calling football games, the number of names on NFL preseason rosters can be overwhelming, considering there are 90 players on each roster, times two.
"Oh yeah. The eighth-string DB who's probably never going to play for the Seahawks, let alone any team in the NFL," Scott explains with a laugh. "But hey, I would not be here if I didn't love a challenge. I called preseason football a number of years ago and it was incredibly overwhelming, but at the end of it, incredibly rewarding. I learned a lot about myself, I learned a lot about the league and I'm looking forward to just diving in and doing it again."