Via Krystle Rich-Bell:

There are several things to unpack in that thread, notably this line:

“I’ve expressed interest in my dream job, Sixers sideline, for a few years now & was told it isn’t returning. I hope more women of color get consideration in the future.”

If you didn’t see it, we reported three weeks ago that NBC Sports Philadelphia is indeed bringing back sideline reporting for the Sixers and Phillies (home games only), but not the Flyers. Our understanding is that those roles will be handled by Taryn Hatcher, who is coming off of the hockey pre and postgame desk.

She confirmed the latter part of our reporting, but didn’t announce the new assignments:


You can read between the lines here. Rich is on record saying she wanted the Sixers sideline gig, which disappeared entirely during COVID. Serena Winters was laid off, along with Gregg Murphy and Abby Chin, who did the same gig for the Celtics. All of the NBC regionals had a huge round of cuts during the pandemic and pulled back from sideline reporting entirely.

Fast forward to 2022, and sideline gigs return, but NBCSP decides to move Hatcher off her current role and into a new one. That leaves questions that remain unanswered. Did she even want the gig? Was it someone else’s decision? Who now handles Flyers pregame and postgame?

Then you’ve got the line about women of color getting more chances, which doesn’t require elaboration. We can all put two and two together.

NBC Sports Philadelphia is rumor city these days, but it’s hard to know what’s true and what isn’t. There’s a lot of stuff floating around. Perhaps we’ll learn more soon.