Around the Horn boasts first all-female panel today
ESPN’s Around the Horn (M-F, 5 p.m. ET) celebrated its 3,000th show last week and today marks another milestone – its first all-female panel.
Kate Fagan, Jemele Hill, Jackie MacMullan and Sarah Spain will appear together as the four featured panelists debating and discussing the sports news of the day with moderator Tony Reali.
“While today is certainly special, our female panelists have always been an important part of Around the Horn, particularly in recent years as we’ve broadened the roster of core contributors by adding even more diverse voices,” said coordinating producer Aaron Solomon. “Today, we were just fortunate that all of their schedules aligned so they could be on together.”
MacMullan is the veteran of the group. She debuted during ATH’s second week on the air in November 2002. Today marks her 612th career appearance and she ranks seventh on ATH’s all-time victory list with 180 show wins.
Hill, who now co-hosts her own weekday His & Hers show (12 p.m., ESPN2) with Michael Smith, has contributed to ATH since 2009 with 19 wins in 68 appearances.
Of the 33 all-time Around the Horn panelists, Fagan and Spain – two-thirds of espnW’s Trifecta ESPN Radio weekend show – are two of the most recent additions. Fagan has appeared since October 2014, while Spain debuted on Feb. 25.
“Chemistry is important on any show, and that’s particularly true on ours because you have four people – five, including Tony – who have to play off each other, and understand the timing of when to get your points across, all while delivering great content,” adds Solomon. “Kate and Sarah, along with Pablo [Torre], LZ [Granderson] and other newcomers, have immediately clicked with our veteran contributors, whether they have come from print, television, radio or some combination.”
And that’s what will make today’s show so fun to watch.
Adds Hill: “Somehow, I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of some milestone shows on ATH. A few years ago, I was on the show when it was the first time all the panelists were African-American and to be on ATH’s first panel of all women is equally special. What makes this even more special is when you think about our different paths to a platform like ATH. We all wrote, sharpened our reporting and television chops and in the case of someone like Jackie Mac, set the standard for women in our profession. I might get muted or eliminated on purpose just to watch everyone else.”
https://twitter.com/katefagan3/status/723184828447895554
