This is her field of dreams. Erin Andrews opened up to HuffPost Live in a new interview on Wednesday, February 17, about the pressure of being a female sportscaster in the male-dominated world of professional football, and how she doesn’t appreciate the focus on her looks.
“I think it’s hilarious when people have a problem with, ‘Oh she’s wearing this, she’s got hair extensions,'” Andrews, 37, said of being a female NFL sideline reporter. “It’s so funny to me that people are so worried about what I’m doing or care about how I look, and I’m working out,” she revealed. “We have the best-looking guys at Fox. Michael Strahan, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, Terry Bradshaw … They work out all the time. Beautiful men wearing beautiful clothes. And nobody says anything about that. That’s the only time I get salty.”
Andrews, 37, who was previously a college sports sideline reporter for ESPN, was recruited by Fox to cover the NFL in 2012. In July 2014, she replaced longtime NFL sideline reporter Pam Oliver for the top spot on the field at the network. The narrative, though, turned into Andrews swiping the job from Oliver, which was far from the case.
“I think, unfortunately, in our industry, it happens way too much,” Andrews told HuffPost on Wednesday. “I don’t think it’s only our industry. … In offices, what I do for a living, you see other women going after other women, and it’s like, ‘Wait, can’t we just support each other for a minute?'”
Andrews feels the pressure constantly. “Oh God, every single game, every single practice, every single time I go on television working sports, absolutely,” she said. “I put so much [more] pressure on now than I ever have in my life. … I went to Fox to work the NFL, and I knew I wanted to work with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, and thankfully I got a job. … This is what I’m obsessed with doing. I left a place where I was for eight years and knew all the coaches, knew all the story lines, and I threw myself in the NFL, and I’ve put more pressure on myself than ever before.”
Luckily, she’s one to dive right in. “[Now I’m] working in the biggest and best sport. Because I love it. I love the pressure,” Andrews said. “The way I’m able to get better is when I have all that pressure on me.”
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