Raptors plan to use all-female broadcast crew for televised March 24 game
CBC Sports contributor Meghan McPeak to be joined by Nurse, Grey, Beirness, Audibert
The Toronto Raptors will have women in every on-air role on a televised game later this month.
The NBA team made the announcement on International Women's Day.
Meghan McPeak will have the play-by-play and national women's team star Kia Nurse will handle the analysis for a March 24 game against the Denver Nuggets on TSN.
The broadcasters also will participate in virtual events to share their experiences, as well as a virtual panel with students from Ryerson University's sport business programs.
March 24th, 2021, we watch history. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/InternationalWomensDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#InternationalWomensDay</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheNorth?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheNorth</a> <a href="https://t.co/fhJyT3dqQx">pic.twitter.com/fhJyT3dqQx</a>
—@Raptors
"We wanted to highlight the contributions that women make individually -- across so many broadcasts -- by bringing them all together," John Wiggins, Raptors vice-president of organizational diversity and inclusion, said in a statement. "Yes, we're making a point. We hope this leads to more recognition of the many roles women play in pro sports.
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"And we especially hope that one of the takeaways from this is for girls at home who see Meghan or Amy or Kayla, and think -- hey, I could do that. There's a place for me in sports."
Meanwhile, the Raptors also announced a maximum of 3,500 fans will be allowed to attend home games at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., starting March 19.
The team started the year allowing a limited number of fans into the arena before the facility went fan-free in January because of the COVID-19 pandemic.