When Tracy Wolfson garnered her first Sports Emmy Award victory earlier in the year, it completed a whirlwind stretch of multiplatform broadcasts across different sports, along with the realization of what was ostensibly somewhat of an elusive accolade. Wolfson had been nominated six times previously but had yet to earn these plaudits in the category recognizing outstanding sideline reporters. Nonetheless, she was elated to win the award for reasons beyond the superficial recognition since it granted her a chance to exhibit her gratitude towards everyone that has helped her along the way.
As someone who took an untraditional path to her role by starting behind the camera and gradually assimilating to the other side of the lens, Wolfson has been able to achieve her goals through perseverance, fortitude and determination. Wolfson has worked for the company for more than two decades, and she maintains a mindset of a producer in contributing to insightful, enthralling broadcasts.
“When do you get to look back and say, ‘Thank you, because I wouldn’t be here without you’?,” Wolfson said. “So, it gave me that opportunity to do that, so it was definitely a tremendous honor and a really incredible moment.”
The awards ceremony occurred a few months after Paramount Global’s presentation of Super Bowl LVIII, which ended up winning three Sports Emmy awards. The game set a record for the most-watched U.S. television program in history with a total audience delivery of 123.7 million viewers across CBS, Paramount+ and various additional linear and digital platforms.
“We had the game that lived up to the hype,” Wolfson said, “and when you can go to overtime in a Super Bowl and have that many storylines surrounding it and then have the excitement of the celebs and being in Vegas for the first time, everyone who came out for that and that scene and wanting to see it, it just made for the perfect Super Bowl.”
As someone who did not have any mentors amid a dearth of women in the business, Wolfson chose to attend the University of Michigan because of its balance of academics and athletics. While interning at HBO Sports, Wolfson met professionals who freelanced for CBS, and she would volunteer as a runner every time there was a broadcast at Michigan. As more games progressed, she was invited on road trips and ended up traveling through her senior year.
“My friends were like, ‘Where are you?’” Wolfson recalled. “I had been gone for three straight weeks – I wound up in Tampa [and] I made, again, a lot of connections through CBS doing that. [I] worked March Madness and the Final Four… and this was all happening in my senior year, and they offered me a research job out of college working for CBS Sports.”
Discovering stories and accruing statistics for broadcasts helped Wolfson establish and refine her preparation process, an integral background that has paid dividends. Without tape to leave and start on-camera work, she sought a promotion internally but instead received an early indication of misogyny and caustic divisiveness that exists within the business. Wolfson was informed that despite her aptitude and passion for sports, it did not equate to that of the men with the company. Being subjected to this prejudiced speech, she affirms, is the best thing that happened, catalyzing her departure to become an agent under Steve Merz at IF Enterprises where she worked with clients and helped them find jobs.
“Seeing that side of the business – how to prepare, how to look on camera, how your voice should maybe sound, how to put together a tape – all of that also made me a better reporter,” Wolfson said. “So yeah, I think every stop along the way, while it took me four years to finally get in front of the camera, I learned so much that has made me a better reporter.”
After a stint producing at News 12 Long Island, Wolfson received an offer from WZBN-TV in Trenton, N.J. Her first live experience occurred with MSG Networks in New York, along with national work covering select sporting events for ESPN.
ESPN did not ask her back, but that coincided with an opening to report at CBS. As a result, she stepped into the job of lead sideline reporter for SEC football games with Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson. Taking the air in the national spotlight, she learned more about storytelling and strived to excel.
“I realized very quickly, especially when people were saying we were rooting for one team and not the other, how seriously it is down [in] the SEC and how seriously they take college football, and I fell in love with it right away,” Wolfson said. “And it made you want to work even harder to expose those storylines and traditions and passions and bring them to life and be in the middle of every moment, and I was.”
After a decade in which NFL on CBS games stopped utilizing sideline reporters, the company decided to include them once again upon acquiring rights to Thursday Night Football in 2014. Despite feeling as if she betrayed her teammates at the SEC on CBS after a decade with the property, she surmised that the chance to arrive on the lead NFL broadcasting team may not be possible. Wolfson successfully made the transition in the fall and began working on marquee games throughout the calendar.
“You can turn to, let’s just say the Super Bowl situation with Tom Brady when he was telling me, ‘Just wait, just wait. I’ll give you the interview,’ and then everyone surrounded me and I was in that moment,” Wolfson said. “I was prepared for that moment. I did the Kick Six in Auburn, Ala. There was no bigger game than that when everyone stormed the field and you’re able to hold your own. You learn that in the SEC. In the NFL, that’s nothing, right?”
Beginning with the 2024 NFL season, both teams are required to make the head coach or either coordinator available for an in-game, on-camera interview at the end of quarter breaks or at halftime. This will expand access and the ability for viewers to hear directly from coaches amid the action, but it provides an additional challenge for Wolfson, whose job is predicated on strategically roaming the sidelines and extrapolating news.
“The home team gets to decide when they want to do it, and we still get those halftime interviews, going in, going out, off camera, so we get some stuff at halftime,” Wolfson said. “It’s going to be a feeling-out period, definitely, and you’re not going to get much from some of these coaches, but we’ll figure it out and we’ll adjust.”
There is no preset route Wolfson takes during the game, instead moving around based on the game flow. If Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes throws an interception, she is watching him as he goes to the sidelines and who he is talking to. When tight end Travis Kelce and head coach Andy Reid had a heated exchange during Super Bowl LVIII, Wolfson was situated right near the incident and was able to report what happened, eliminating any speculation or conjecture.
“I feel like an investigative reporter down there, and I love that role – I really do,” Wolfson said. “Whether it is an injury or whether it’s a situation with the offensive line and there are some issues there or whether there was a mistake happening in the backfield – whatever it might be, I love finding out those stories.”
There is potential for the lead NFL on CBS broadcast team to cover eight Chiefs games this year, requiring Wolfson to find new angles and platforms on which to discover stories. The repetition helps her minimize fatigue and withstand the consistent travel, meetings and workload, facilitating her multifaceted obligations.
“I think it is that longevity and the relationships I’ve built with these coaches and players that [sets me apart],” Wolfson said. “You can see it in the interviews, and they’re going to give me more stuff because they trust me, and so I think there’s a lot of that when you’ve covered these teams over and over again.”
The current lead broadcast team featuring Wolfson, Jim Nantz and Tony Romo has been working together for the last seven seasons. There is clear synergy between everyone on the team evident through the repartee and interactions to bring viewers pertinent and salient developments.
“My favorite times in the broadcast is when we could do a whole segment on something,” Wolfson explained. “Maybe Jim starts it, I add to it and Tony wraps it up. That’s great television; that’s working as a team, and it takes time, and also it takes luck in the middle of a game that that can happen where an interception’s not thrown on the next play. But I think we’re at our best when we’re working as a team and everyone feeds off of each other and they support me in that role.”
Once the NFL season concludes, Wolfson transitions to serving as the lead sideline reporter for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, a role she has held since 2008. She does not usually start following college basketball until December or January but nonetheless arrives prepared and embraces the sprint leading to the distinguished cutting of the nets.
“You’re learning eight teams in basically 24-48 hours, and half of those teams you’ve never heard of, and you don’t know one player on them,” Wolfson said. “…I love it – it’s a different set of producers and directors, and then of course Grant Hill and now Ian Eagle and now Bill Raftery. You can’t get a better crew than those three when it comes to college basketball.”
As the calendar moves through seasons of the NFL and college basketball, Wolfson also takes part in We Need to Talk, the first nationally televised all-female sports show. The award-winning program is embarking on its 10th year and will have a special broadcast featuring members of its panelist roster past and present.
“People think it’s a female sports show and we only talk women’s sports,” Wolfson averred. “We actually talk just as much about men’s sports and often lead with the NFL in a lot of our shows, but we do highlight women, which is also needed, and we do try and do what we can to further women in sports and to champion those women that are taking the next steps and doing incredible things.”
Over the years, Wolfson has learned to maintain a keen focus and refrains from searching her name on social media or reading comments after a game. It is essential to block out the outside noise and concentrate on the task at hand, and she is appreciative of the support of her colleagues.
“I think being a woman in the industry is tough when you want to have a family though as well,” Wolfson said. “How you might look on the air – look, I have a beauty mark on my face that I will never get taken off with the amount of comments that people will make about it [that] are often in my feed, but that’s why you have to put your blinders on. You have to just focus on yourself [and] not worry about that stuff.”
Wolfson and her teammates at CBS Sports are set to commence another NFL season, taking sports fans through the twists and turns of the 18-week schedule with credibility, integrity and a will to consistently innovate.
“I get really excited around this time of year,” Wolfson said. “Sure, summer is ending and you know you’re getting on the road for 20-somewhat weeks in a row, but I’m excited and I can’t wait, and I know that I’m in a business where I’m successful and I’m doing a good job, and I can’t wait to get back out there, and I’m lucky that I have the opportunity to do that again.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
