There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sports broadcaster. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.59 an hour? That's $38,666 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -2,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Sports Broadcaster Do

There are certain skills that many sports broadcasters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed research skills, speaking skills and writing skills.

How To Become a Sports Broadcaster

If you're interested in becoming a sports broadcaster, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 82.5% of sports broadcasters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.5% of sports broadcasters have master's degrees. Even though most sports broadcasters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Sports Broadcaster Career Paths

Average Salary for a Sports Broadcaster

Sports Broadcasters in America make an average salary of $38,666 per year or $19 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $66,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $22,000 per year.
Average Sports Broadcaster Salary
$38,666 Yearly
$18.59 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Sports Broadcaster

There are several types of sports broadcaster, including:

On-Air Personality

Role:

On-Air Personalities are sometimes called Broadcast Announcers. They are responsible for speaking or reading from scripted materials, including news reports or commercial messages, on television, radio, or other Communication media. As an On-Air Personality, you have to write and rehearse scripts. You are also expected to meet and discuss with program directors concerning programs or shows. You are also in charge of interviewing, organizing, and scheduling meetings with the organizers of the events.

For every program, you must undertake relevant research background to help understand the show more and be effective. During the show, you are allowed to interview guests via telephone or in-person, depending on the demand of the show. For every event, you should give a review on weather summary, give an update of newly released books, music, and films to captivate your audience's attention. You should also provide links to the program for flexible viewing.

An On-Air Personality must be fluent in communication especially speaking, carry your audience along, be creative, calm, and work under pressure. An average salary of $82,000 is what an On-Air Personality earns yearly. A qualified On-Air Personality has a bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communication, or other related fields to qualify for the role.

  • Average Salary: $42,380
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Sports Reporter

Role:

Sports Reporters gather relevant information and report on sports news in an engaging and informative manner through various media outlets. They usually report on news regarding sports teams, sports events, athletes, coaches, and fans.

A sports reporter may work for television or radio stations, online publications, newspapers, or even networks. The job of a sports reporter involves a lot of traveling because they need to go to the field to cover sports events or to interview athletes.

A sports reporter may choose to specialize in the coverage of a particular sport (e.g., football) or to cover all sports. Nonetheless, their reporting content must be factual and accurate.

Some other duties of a sports reporter include researching and fact-checking sports news, interviewing sports personalities, taking photographs and shooting videos, and writing detailed articles for publication.

Since a sports reporter performs most of his/her or her work in the field, they don't usually have regular working hours. They must be on call all the time because they work with their interviewees' schedules.
  • Average Salary: $96,119
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Talk Show Host

Role:

At some point in your life, you've probably imagined what it would be like to have your own talk show. But why settle for an imaginary show when you can turn your dream into a reality? Whether it's on TV, the radio, the Internet, or a podcast, becoming a talk show host may be more attainable than you think.

In a day, a talk show host spends most of their time, well, talking. When they are not recording, a talk show host collaborates with writers, editors, and other staff members to ensure that everything is up to par. They may even be involved in preparing scripts and interview questions, which is especially common in small-scale operations.

In general, there are no educational requirements to be a talk show host. Instead, a candidate must have the right personality to attract viewers to the show. Impeccable skills in articulation are also a must-have. And since talk shows often go off-script, a talk show host must have the creativity and improv skills to navigate certain situations in the best way possible.

Just like many jobs in the entertainment industry, the salary of a talk show host varies. Depending on the show or employer, a talk show host can earn around $21,000 to $61,000 a year. Generally, the more popular the show is, the higher the salary of the host.
  • Average Salary: $49,582
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Sports Broadcaster Jobs

Number Of Sports Broadcaster Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1Colorado42$29,511
2California39$49,921
3Georgia37$27,280
4Florida31$30,285
5Pennsylvania21$42,144
6Texas21$32,555
7Minnesota21$29,088
8New York18$47,307
9Indiana17$27,747
10Nevada16$51,674
11Ohio16$36,046
12Illinois16$31,410
13Maryland15$46,410
14Arizona15$40,017
15Massachusetts14$42,863
16Wisconsin12$29,429
17Iowa10$29,066
18New Jersey9$47,899
19Virginia9$35,846
20North Carolina9$28,567
21Tennessee9$26,676
22Missouri9$25,890
23Louisiana7$35,789
24Michigan7$32,918
25Washington7$34,740
26Connecticut6$44,898
27Oregon6$39,536
28Maine6$30,741
29Kentucky6$30,751
30Mississippi5$29,123
31Utah5$30,204
32Alabama5$27,971
33Nebraska5$25,557
34Montana4$31,760
35North Dakota3$29,065
36South Carolina3$31,294
37Vermont2$35,794
38West Virginia2$35,992
39South Dakota2$30,770
40New Mexico2$33,381
41Wyoming2$26,045
42Kansas2$28,919
43Arkansas2$27,038
44Rhode Island1$43,072
45New Hampshire1$37,076
46Idaho1$31,052
47Delaware0$46,003
48Hawaii0$50,200
49Alaska0$33,571
50Oklahoma0$27,549

Sports Broadcaster Education

Sports Broadcaster Majors

Sports Broadcaster Degrees

Bachelors

82.5 %

Associate

10.2 %

Masters

3.5 %

Top Colleges for Sports Broadcasters

1. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Journalism
Liberal Arts
Communication
Political Science

2. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Communication
General Education, Specific Areas
Public Relations
Journalism

3. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Liberal Arts
Kinesiology
Communication
Journalism

4. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Communication
General Education, Specific Areas
Digital Media
Journalism

5. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Economics
Political Science
General Education, Specific Areas
English

6. Howard University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$26,756

Enrollment

6,166

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Political Science
Public Relations
Kinesiology
Business
Marketing

7. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,610

Enrollment

40,329

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Public Relations
Liberal Arts
Political Science
Communication

8. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,381

Enrollment

34,564

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Public Relations
Political Science
Liberal Arts
General Education, Specific Areas

9. SUNY College at Plattsburgh

Plattsburgh, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,369

Enrollment

5,229

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Liberal Arts
Political Science
Communication
Journalism

10. SUNY College at Oswego

Oswego, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,440

Enrollment

7,039

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
General Education, Specific Areas
Kinesiology
Public Relations
Communication

Top Skills For a Sports Broadcaster

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.8% of sports broadcasters listed softball on their resume, but soft skills such as research skills and speaking skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Sports Broadcaster Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Sports Broadcaster templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Sports Broadcaster resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Sports Broadcaster Demographics

Sports Broadcaster Gender Distribution

Male
Male
84%
Female
Female
17%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among sports broadcasters, 16.5% of them are women, while 83.5% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among sports broadcasters is White, which makes up 78.0% of all sports broadcasters.

  • The most common foreign language among sports broadcasters is Spanish at 81.8%.

Online Courses For Sports Broadcaster That You May Like

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1. Sports and Society

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Sports play a giant role in contemporary society worldwide. But few of us pause to think about the larger questions of money, politics, race, sex, culture, and commercialization that surround sports everywhere. This course draws on the tools of anthropology, sociology, history, and other disciplines to give you new perspectives on the games we watch and play. It's the new and improved version of Professor Orin Starn's original "Sports and Society" for Coursera, which drew more than 40,000...

See More on Coursera

2. Sports Performance Analytics

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Sports analytics has emerged as a field of research with increasing popularity propelled, in part, by the real-world success illustrated by the best-selling book and motion picture, Moneyball. Analysis of team and player performance data has continued to revolutionize the sports industry on the field, court, and ice as well as in living rooms among fantasy sports players and online sports gambling.\n\nDrawing from real data sets in Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball...

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3. Foundations of Sports Analytics: Data, Representation, and Models in Sports

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This course provides an introduction to using Python to analyze team performance in sports. Learners will discover a variety of techniques that can be used to represent sports data and how to extract narratives based on these analytical techniques. The main focus of the introduction will be on the use of regression analysis to analyze team and player performance data, using examples drawn from the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey...

See More on Coursera
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Top Sports Broadcaster Employers

Most Common Employers For Sports Broadcaster

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Merrimack College$66,633$32.042
2Plymouth State University$63,856$30.702
3MSA$62,424$30.011
4University of North Carolina$52,207$25.102
5University of Rhode Island$49,419$23.763
6Lindenwood University$47,358$22.772
7Lewis University$40,392$19.422
8Southern Maine Community College$39,906$19.191
9HBC$38,731$18.622
10Northeast Sports Network$36,445$17.522