When Alexa Datt received a call from Bally Sports Midwest to join its coverage of local sports, she did not know that accepting the job would transport her to baseball heaven. Whether at the grocery store, riding in an Uber or at an event venue itself, she knows she is surrounded by a community with a unique and heightened effervescence towards its favorite sports teams.
“You can always try something new if you’re up for it,” Datt said. “Sometimes it requires making a big move in your life; a big change, and change can be scary, but if you embrace it and you lean on your people that have always been there to support you, it can be one of the best things that ever happens to you, and it was for me.”
While she covers the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues, Datt acknowledges that she grew up as a fan of the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Capitals. During her time working on a national scale, she was able to celebrate the Capitals’ Stanley Cup championship and a World Series victory for the Washington Nationals, the team she began rooting for upon its institution in 2005.
When she was young, Datt took up an interest in creative writing and always enjoyed watching or attending sporting events. Upon the recommendation from her mother, Datt had her sights set on sports media and pursued it full speed ahead.
“I fell in love with it my freshman year of high school and never looked back,” Datt said. “There was no Plan B; this was the Plan A. I was going to do this in some form or fashion, whether it was on air [or] behind the scenes for my career. If it didn’t work, I never even thought about anything else.”
To this day, she does not have a backup plan should her career fall through. There is hardly an offseason for Datt, who works year round to fulfill her obligations towards the Cardinals and Blues. Fostering the work ethic necessary to thrive in such a competitive industry occurred when she was young through her time as a college student at the University of Maryland.
While she learned plenty in her classes and at the school’s television network, it was through internships that she was truly able to be exposed to different niches of the industry. Datt was hired as an intern with America’s Most Wanted, where she gained production knowledge, and at Comcast SportsNet in Washington, D.C., where she assisted on shoots, ingested video and wrote scripts.
After various internships at the regional sports network, Datt walked into the office of the head of the network, Tim McHugh, and offered her thanks for allowing her to work as an intern. McHugh, incredulously, shared with her that no intern had ever taken the time to show their gratitude to him. As a result, he offered her a job as a production assistant before she even graduated college.
“The fact that I was working at night and working weekends and working some holidays and really building camaraderie with people who also worked in the industry was really special for me,” Datt said. “At school, you had your friends, but these were co-workers who I knew were basically going to be in my life for as long as I’d be in this industry.”
After a few years, she asked to be transferred to New York and began working at SportsNet New York in an associate producer role where she wrote scripts, cut highlights and helped construct a show. Through a relationship with former SNY host Michelle Yu, Datt was connected with Time Warner Cable on Staten Island, N.Y. and received an opportunity to work as a sideline reporter for men’s college basketball games.
“That was an amazing learning experience – death by fire, but you learn to sink or swim,” Datt said. “The best thing, honestly, was to lean on as many people as I could, and they were all willing to offer as much advice as possible since I was willing to listen.”
From the beginning of her time in The Big Apple, Datt was determined to broaden her abilities and become a multifaceted, versatile multimedia talent. Any opportunity that was afforded to her that would help her achieve this goal was something she jumped at. It helped her form a network of professionals in the business.
Rutgers University brought Datt on as a sideline reporter for its college basketball games, Fios1 Sports gave her a chance to work in the same role for high school football state championship games and SNY started to utilize her in its studio programming. While she was at SNY, Datt met current NFL on FOX play-by-play announcer and MLB on FOX studio host Kevin Burkhardt, who ended up being a pivotal resource early on.
“[He was] just extremely helpful while I was there because he was on his way out, but we crossed paths for a little bit,” Datt said of Burkhardt. “I’m super proud of Kevin; he is a superstar.”
Beginning in the 2014 season – and on a significantly smaller center field video board – Datt was named an in-stadium host for the New York Mets at Citi Field. Over the next three seasons, Datt worked with Neha Joy and Branden Wellington where the trio presented a pregame show and hosted content in-between innings.
While she was working on game days for the Mets, Datt continued to appear in studio on SNY and occasionally filled in for Steve Gelbs as the broadcast’s sideline reporter during spring training. After Datt departed SNY and ultimately the Mets, she inked a deal with MLB.com to host a livestream Twitter program called The Dugout. On this program, Datt was joined by broadcasters, celebrities and players to break down the night’s action and appeal to a younger demographic of sports fans.
By the start of the next season, she was granted her own midday show titled 12:25 Live with Alexa featuring interviews, discussion about the league at large and discourse with her co-host Dani Wexelman. In the years ensuing, the footprint of digital content has continued to precipitously grow, and Datt is cognizant of the important skills she cultivated in the role.
“I think that’s kind of the way this is all going, which is just a way more casual environment because we’ve been doing this for so long, talking sports in just a very easy way,” Datt explained. “Let’s convert that into how we set up a game [and] how we dissect it on the backend. All of that put together, I think, is just a better product for the consumer.”
People began to take notice of Datt’s hosting ability and one year later, she found herself commuting to Secaucus, N.J. as co-host of The Rundown with Scott Braun on MLB Network. Ironically enough, the season premiere of The Rundown came at Citi Field.
Datt quickly became friends with colleague and fellow DMV-area native Lauren Shehadi at MLB Network. Shehadi hosted a variety of studio programming over the years, and is now co-host of MLB Central and travels to Atlanta for MLB on TBS Tuesday night games. Datt referred to Shehadi as being her ‘rock’ when they were working together, and is grateful for everyone who has offered their support and expertise in the business.
“Altogether throughout my journey, there have been so many people who have been willing to embrace me with nothing in return,” Datt said. “They’re not getting anything out of it; they just are willing to reach out and help somebody who’s trying to make it along.”
When she was at MLB Network, Datt frequently hosted Quick Pitch, the network’s whiparound highlight show recapping all of the games from the previous day. She was responsible for writing lead-ins to highlights and coming up with creative ways to showcase her personality. Eventually, she took on a similar role with NHL Network.
“Writing the intros to a story and coming up with a unique angle to try and figure out how to captivate the audience and really sell them on what I was going to be talking about, I think, [was] challenging in a really good way and it’s the best way to hone your skills,” Datt said. “You’re standing there and you’ve got to, from the jump, say something that’s going to get this audience to want to pay attention to what you’re saying because it’s just you up there.”
Throughout her broadcast career, Datt has had to face criticism and contend with misogyny. At times, her sports knowledge was called into question, causing her to feel insecure because she already felt conscious of her own abilities amid her development. While she does not face those criticisms presently because of her dedication, work ethic and proficiency, she knows there are plenty of other women who face their own challenges and not provided equal opportunities in the industry. She also knows that women that came before her helped pave that path for herself and her peers.
“We’re super lucky to have people who have been in this industry and had to fight for their role and their job and the adversity that they had to face because they opened doors for us to be able to walk right through,” Datt said. “I thank those women constantly when I see them; they paved the way. I think for our generation, we realized how difficult it could have been or was for women of different generations; we’ve learned from that and bonded together.”
In St. Louis, Datt has further established her casual hosting style. Her goal of these programs is to inform while providing viewers with esoteric and coherent logic.
“I’m here to say that I can step out of your TV and sit down next to you on the couch and we can just have a conversation about hitting; pitching; the outfield; what this team’s going to do at the trade deadline and just kind of talk,” Datt said. “That’s my favorite part about this.”
On Blues Live, Datt works with Jamie Rivers, Bernie Federko and Darren Pang to preview the action ahead of puck drop. During the first and second intermissions, they recap the action, look at games across the NHL, and discuss what changes need to be made entering the later stages of the matchup. Finally, the night closes with a postgame broadcast containing sound from head coach Craig Berube and Blues players, along with highlights and analysis of the game.
Conversely for Cardinals Live, Datt is hosting coverage from Bally Sports Midwest’s broadcast studio, located across the street from Busch Stadium. On a typical gameday, Datt enters the studio several hours before the broadcast.
“It’s just a quick dose of, ‘Here’s what’s going on for Cardinals fans who really need to know,’” Datt said, “and then there’s the game.”
When the team is on the road, Datt usually works an entirely different job as the broadcast’s field reporter, although she sometimes hosts studio coverage. Datt is frequently around the team on road trips and focuses her questions before the game on the matchup at hand. She then conducts a one-on-one interview with a select member of the Cardinals, oftentimes in the dugout, which is shown during Cardinals Live.
“Some people will set up their stories and say, ‘I’m going to do this here [and] I’m going to do this here,’” Datt explained. “I like to incorporate what I have as naturally as possible. If the guys are talking about it, I can say, ‘Hey, I have some more to add here,’ and then they’ll insert me in.”
The average time of a standard, regular season Major League Baseball game has hastened by nearly a half-hour in 2023. As a result, Datt needs to be especially compendious in her storytelling and contributing to the broadcast.
“Reporters should be getting in and out, and I think I’m able to tell more stories, which is nice, in a more concise way,” Datt said. “I think that’s what people are looking for anyway.”
If the Cardinals win, Datt conducts an on-field interview with a select player and then quickly proceeds into the clubhouse where she interviews the manager and collects additional postgame sound from the players. Once postgame media availability concludes, Datt’s work is largely finished for the day. No matter if she is working under the shadow of the Gateway Arch or in one of the 27 other major league cities, the fans of St. Louis remain firmly rooted in her psyche.
“There’s a lot of pressure to understand the team’s history – and pressure in a good way because you want to be able to deliver the best product to these fans who are extremely knowledgeable,” Datt said. “So you’ve got to make sure you’re on your game, which I love, because I’ll take the challenge any day.”
As a sports media personality in the 21st century, having an active social media presence is viewed by some as fundamental to establishing an individual brand. For Datt, she uses the various platforms to share photos on the job and engage with fans who may have questions that she can answer. Regarding negative activity on the web, she seeks to avoid it and takes everything in stride, recognizing that much of it comes from the insecurity of others and neglects to address it.
Datt’s career has been full of exciting moments. None of it would have been possible without an indefatigable will to succeed and be adaptable, both of which can now be cultivated by starting a podcast. Datt tells aspiring professionals to explore the space since it gives them opportunities to book guests, prepare for interviews, produce a show and distribute a final product to listeners. In fact, Datt herself hosted a podcast with Wexelman called Datt’s What She Said with Dani, on which the duo interviewed athletes in and out of the game of baseball.
As more consumers cut the cord and become engrossed in the digital content marketplace, Datt wants to serve as a resource for fans to discover informative and entertaining sports talk – whether that be about the Blues, Cardinals or sports world at large.
Derek Futterman is a former associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. Find him on X @derekfutterman.
