All-female TV crew on Marquette basketball broadcast shines light on National Girls and Women in Sports Day

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Wednesday night's Marquette women's basketball game was broadcast on national TV as part of the annual Female Forward initiative.

Every single person involved in the broadcast was a woman, from play-by-play broadcaster Lisa Byington to director Carol Langley to every camera operator and audio technician.

Marquette senior guard Jordan King told us she's impressed with "How hard these women work, and what they put into their jobs. And not just us as athletes but even to put our games on tv and to cover our games is special."

The women's game is experiencing a boom, with sold out arenas, huge TV ratings, and big-time stars. And women covering women has helped drive the explosion in popularity of women's sports in recent years.

King has felt that enthusiasm for most of her career. "The crowds have been bigger at some of the games recently, just from experience in the Big East for the past five years."

She said the players notice the impact they have on girls in the stands. "We always pay attention to that and cherish that and appreciate that."

But widespread support from a diverse fanbase wasn't always there for women's sports.

Marquette head coach Megan Duffy said, "I think that's been a change in the last ten to 15 years where you see families and young boys wearing a Jordan King jersey or Caitlin Clark jersey. Where maybe that didn’t happen before."

Now star players like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese command big crowds wherever they play.

But Duffy says there's still work to be done. "We would love for it to not just be one day, where we celebrate girls and women's sports. It's every day."

And Wednesday night, that extended to the TV broadcast, where everyone tuning a microphone, running cable, focusing a camera, and punching up a shot will be a woman.

Kim Adams, the game analyst for FS1, expected it to be "just a really special and empowering night."

It will be Adams' second time calling the annual Female Forward game. She told us, "It's so cool to look into our truck later and see everyone in there is a woman. To see the person holding the camera for our open is going to be a woman."

For years men have dominated the sports broadcast industry, but recently more women have made inroads, especially with on-air positions.

"But in terms of producers, directors, graphic coordinators, camera operators, that's still very heavily male-dominated," Adams said.

Which is why those involved with this game want the broadcast to show other girls and women -and decision makers- what they're capable of.

Adams said, "I do hope that one day I do have a female camera operator and it's not just because it's National Girls and Women in Sports Day."