Fox Sports is rounding out its on-air team for this summer's FIFA Women’s World Cup, hiring three reporters to cover the event. Fox Sports reporter Jenny Taft will be embedded with the U.S. team, while former "Fox Soccer Daily" host Julie Stewart-Binks will be a “roving reporter” with a schedule that will see her report from 11 games in four cities. SI's Grant Wahl will be a correspondent-at-large. The trio will appear on various studio shows like “Women’s World Cup Today,” “FIFA Women’s World Cup Tonight,” “America’s Pregame” and “Fox Sports Live" (John Ourand, Staff Writer).
PACKING A PUNCH: MULTICHANNEL NEWS' R. Thomas Umstead wrote boxing "may not dominate the sports pages or weekly television schedules like it did in the 50s through 70s, but when it comes to big events no other event genre can touch the sweet science in terms of drawing eyeballs and dollars." The top 10 most-watched PPV events of all time "are boxing matches, with the top three having occurred within the last decade and two of the top three in the last two years." Umstead: "It may take a while for another fight to capture the public’s interest on the level of Mayweather-Pacquiao, but it’s a good bet that no music, pro wrestling or mixed martial arts will challenge the record in the meantime" (MULTICHANNEL.com, 5/18).
MEERKAT MANNERS: In Boston, Callum Borchers writes under the header, "Periscope, Meerkat Threaten Teams’ Hold On Video Feeds." The "irony is the apps stoking the fears run on the same smartphones that have been welcomed at athletic venues for several years and that run faster thanks to the high-speed Wi-Fi now available in many arenas." While some leagues "fret about live streaming by fans and journalists, they are also exploring ways to leverage Meerkat and Periscope for their own benefit." MLB recently "coordinated setup of Periscope accounts for all 30 teams." The Revolution now "regularly use Periscope to show pregame interviews and warmups" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/19).
