A familiar Philadelphia voice is getting a boost to the national stage, as USA Network named Sixers play-by-play announcer Kate Scott its lead broadcaster for WNBA coverage starting next season.
Scott, who's had a pioneering career that's spanned two decades, is entering her fifth season with the Sixers. Last month, she became the first woman to announce an NFL game for Westwood One, the largest audio broadcast network in the country, when she was on the call when the Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Ireland.
MORE: 5 Sixers thoughts: Quentin Grimes reunion nearing; fair to be concerned by poor start to preseason?
The California native previously worked as a play-by-play and sideline reporter for men's and women's basketball in the San Francisco area from 2015-2021 and called basketball games during the 2020 Olympics.
"What an honor it is to reconnect with women's basketball at this time with this league," Scott told the Athletic. "This is just the perfect opportunity with a company and a network that realizes and sees how big the W is and how much bigger it can be."
She was also the first woman to call a PAC-12 football game, part of the first all-women NHL broadcast crew and was the first female announcer in the Madden NFL video game franchise.
USA Network, which will join media company Versant next year, recently agreed to an 11-year broadcast deal with the WNBA, announcing last week that the channel will show 50-plus games per season — more than any other network. Scott will be on the call for one of the Wednesday night double-headers and during the postseason, according to the Athletic.
"We are incredibly proud to have Kate Scott lead USA Network's WNBA coverage," Jeff Behnke, Versant's executive producer for sports, said in a statement. "Kate's veteran broadcasting experience and her immense passion for the league will be a big win for the national audience watching and listening to her call the WNBA on USA for years to come."
The announcement comes at a time when the city is making its own forays into the growing women's basketball industry.
Last week, it was announced that the Unrivaled 3-on-3 league, which was created for players to compete during the WNBA offseason, would be making a stop at Xfinity Mobile Arena in January, marking the first professional women's basketball game to be played in the city in nearly three decades.
Philadelphia will get its own WNBA team in 2030 during the league's expansion that will be operated by the Sixers ownership group.