Some local broadcasting news for you.

According to a handful of sources, NBC Sports Philadelphia plans to bring back sideline reporting for Sixers and Phillies HOME games.* Key word, home. Our understanding is that Taryn Hatcher is in line for this role, wrapping both basketball and baseball into one gig.

You’ll recall that during the pandemic, Serena Winters and Gregg Murphy were let go, while Hatcher moved to a desk role for the Flyers broadcasts, replacing Katie Emmer. Since, Hatcher has branched out to Eagles coverage and other roles while seeing her stock rise at the network. In this case, she would no longer be doing hockey, but instead work Sixers and Phillies games. There may still be some Eagles duties as well, though we couldn’t confirm that, and the network will have to find someone to replace Hatcher on the Flyers desk for pregame and postgame.

One of the quirks here is this –

Why bring back basketball and baseball in-game reporting, but not hockey? The belief, I think (not totally sure), is that there are more natural breaks in those sports, whereas hockey doesn’t have as many stoppages that allow for uninterrupted reporting. I could be wrong, but that seems to be the gist here. You’ve got free throws and inning changes and various items that stagger the broadcast a little bit and allow for a third person to get involved. With hockey, that seems less feasible. It does, however, make you scratch your head a bit, since the Flyers and NBCSP share an owner and you’d think they’d put the same resources into the hockey team, even if they’re projected to stink this season.


Regardless, this is good news for fans. Bringing back sideline reporting after initially axing it during COVID gets us closer to the standard that we knew, pre-pandemic. I know Flyers fans will probably be bummed to lose Hatcher, but for her, you could look at this as a boost of sorts, since the Sixers and Phillies currently are better teams with a higher profile. That might change as the Flyers rebound eventually, but for the time being, baseball and basketball get more eyeballs in Philadelphia.