CBS Sports’ all-women studio show ‘We Need to Talk‘ is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. In celebration of the milestone, the show put together two special broadcasts, one of which aired on Sept. 21 and the other which will air on Monday Sept. 30 at 7:00 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.
15 women with some incredible backgrounds in sports and sports broadcasting gathered recently in New York to film the episodes and to reflect back on 10 years of the program. The women were made up of current hosts of the show along with some from the past, along with coordinating producer and director Suzanne Smith, and producers Amy Salmanson and Julie Keryc.
When Summer Sanders, winner of four Olympic medals including two gold medals, was first approached about being involved in the show, she told Barrett Media her reaction was, “When can we start and it’s about time!” She liked the idea that the group was put together not just to highlight women’s sports but to give their opinions on everything happening in sports, both men’s sports and women’s sports.
“We all are fans,” Sanders said. “Many of us come from high-level jobs within sports or have achieved the greatest achievements in our sports, so we have valid opinions on every level, and I was excited to learn. This is women who know sports talking about sports.”
As she reflected back on the ten years, she said it is generally the guests they have talked with that standout. She mentioned Gayle King and said, “I love she just inspires other women to speak from their heart…I loved the conversation that she created and her natural curiosity to sport.”
She also really enjoyed meeting and talking to former Yankees manager Joe Torre. “I lived in New York during 9-11 and I had never met him…I got a chance to tell him how important he was to little old me during that time.” She also mentioned Billie Jean King, who is a part of the special broadcasts, who Sanders says is “just an exceptional human being let alone winning congressional gold medals and groundbreaking movements in women’s sports and sports in general. It’s not lost on me how lovely this job is and how humbled I am every time I’m called up to do it.”
When looking at the shift that has occurred over the last ten years or so with more eyeballs specifically on women’s sports, the interest in female athletes in the Olympic Games and more women in play-by-play and team executive roles, Sanders sees it as more about timing, especially with the recent growth of interest in women’s basketball.
“Caitlin Clark has been amazing, but it was the timing of everybody coming together and appreciating and wanting it and building a business, filling arenas, buying tickets. I always ask people, ‘Do you want an action plan?’ Know the names, say the names, buy the merch, wear the merch, buy the ticket, go to the game. Those are your six things.”
As for things she would like to see more of on the show as it looks towards the future, Sanders pointed to something the show used to do, which was going to universities to shoot the show. “I liked bringing it out on campus. I want to find and inspire those next Suzanne Smith’s, the director for the ‘NFL on CBS’ or the next Amy Salmonson, the next producer of our show on CBS. And I think we can do that through our show. I also want to see more Olympic athletes on our show, not just every four years or every two years winter and summer.”
Sanders also mentioned wanting to make sure to highlight sports that don’t get mentioned often, especially with the landscape of college athletics. She is genuinely concerned about the NCAA sports model and wonders what a Plan B would look like for Olympic sports.
As for the opportunity to work with some incredible women, Sanders says, “I will say I love all of them because you know some are polished in television, some aren’t. I love everyone’s take on things and I like to hear what they have to say.”
She talked about really enjoying the opportunity to get to know and work with Tracy Wolfson and said others like Swin Cash inspire her and that Sarah Kustok, “could not be more full of positivity when you are around her, you feel like you are the smartest and most beautiful human on the planet because she makes you feel that way.
“We have Lesley Visser, who is the mama to us all, we owe her so much. I marvel at her all the time. That’s one of our many fearless leaders. How can you not love just being in her presence?”
Sanders says she is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work on We Need to Talk, with the people who she hosts with and those behind the cameras. She believes the show has made a difference but says she can speak for all of the hosts when she says, “There’s so much more to do, so much more opportunity for women to grow in the business.”
