NBC Sports’ REBECCA LOWE can be found in the studio on weekends providing EPL coverage for U.S. soccer fans. Her mornings begin much earlier than most, and with the upcoming "Premier League Mornings Live" fan event kicking off on Saturday in DC, she'll be getting an even earlier start. Lowe spoke with THE DAILY to detail what a typical Saturday can look like for her.
3:15am: I stay in a hotel about five minutes from the studio in Connecticut. I am up at 3:15 and straight away in order to help me wake up, I put the radio on. I always put Talk Sport Radio on, which is a U.K. sports radio station, because they automatically are talking about the Premier League. Then it’s just getting myself showered, getting myself ready and making sure that I have all my notes and stats.
4:00am: I drive myself from the hotel to the studio to get into makeup and hair with my wonderful stylist -- thank goodness she’s so great at her job -- MAGDALENA KOLODZIEJ, who does my makeup and hair, which is much needed at four in the morning.
4:30am: In comes GABBY RIVIERE, who is our showrunner and does everything for us. Without Gabby we would be a broken show. Straight away we’ve got tea, coffee, bananas and everything that we need to wake ourselves up. The only tea that should really ever be enjoyed is English breakfast tea. I like it strong and milky, which is where the tea bag stays in for a decent amount of time, but not more than a few minutes.
4:45am: Normally our producer PIERRE MOOSSA or ADAM LITTLEFIELD will come in and chat a little bit about the show and make sure that there’s no breaking news that happened overnight.
Lowe will have conversations with the on air team about any breaking news that needs to addressedNBC SPORTS
5:00am: The two guys on the show with me, whichever combination of the two or three, will come in. We will have a conversation about any breaking news and decide to finalize on the show’s opening. We decide on Friday, but we finalize on Saturday morning.
5:30am: I should be done with makeup and hair and that’s when I go pick out an outfit and wardrobe. We have a great wardrobe team who usually sort of narrow it down to a couple of outfits. I try to avoid wearing the color of a team that is playing that day. A few weeks ago, I wore a light blue dress to which I received many messages which said, "Alright, Manchester City supporter today are you?"
5:35-6:30am: We do an hour where we basically rehearse our opening conversation unless it’s incredibly passionate, because you don’t want to over-rehearse them and lose the edge when you do it for real. I am also waiting for all of the arrival shots to come in because I write the top of the show. I don’t write any of the show except the top. The top is when all players and managers arrive and we show each stadium. I want it to be perfection.
6:30-7:30am: On air.
7:30am: The kickoff of the first game is now, and the all-important breakfast break arrives. I usually have oatmeal and the boys usually have eggs.
10:00am: We do the bridge show between games one and two. This is the game window where there are often at least four, if not six games on at the same time. We show one on NBCSN and the others go on NBC Sports Gold, but we are watching all of them in the studio at the same time. That with a cup of tea is an amazing couple of hours.
12:00pm: After the 10:00am window we have to show all of the goals. Our incredible production team turns around all of the goals in highlight fashion for us. Now, coming from the U.K. there is a wonderful show called “Match of the Day” where they show the highlights of all of the games. But these guys make it an artistry because it takes an hour to turn around these highlights. For us, our guys, they sometimes have two minutes if there is a goal at the end of a game.
12:30pm: Game three starts over on NBC, so we switch channels. This is when we have lunch. I am normally a grilled chicken salad kind of girl.
3:00pm: The game finishes and we have a "Goal Zone" on NBC and then we’re done with live television. We record a "Match of the Day" segment straight away.
4:00pm: It’s back to the hotel and I go straight to my computer, because if I don’t, I will want to go straight to bed. I finish my stats and research and tweaking of the top of my show for Sunday, which often is based on what happened on Saturday.
5:30pm: I force myself to go the gym in the hotel because I have been sitting down all day. Then after an hour workout I will eat some dinner.
6:30pm: I order some room service and try to do 45 minutes of nothing, as in watching some trashy Netflix show while I eat my dinner. I do this in order to switch off because my day from 3:15am all the way through is soccer, soccer, soccer and I just need that little section before bed. I love to watch the “GILMORE GIRLS,” which I’m really late to.
7:30pm: If my lights are not out by this time, I have been bad. I try to make sure lights are out by then and I set my alarm for Sunday morning at 3:45am.
Know of someone who should be featured in "A Day in the Life"? Send a note to jcarpenter@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
