Katie Emmer Brings Midwest Moxie and Positivity to Philly's Sports Scene

Katie Emmer Brings Midwest Moxie and Positivity to Philly’s Sports Scene By: Nick Santangelo Minnesota, Philadelphia is not. Minnesota Vikings quickly learned as much in January 2018 after receiving some churlish responses to their dressing the Rocky Statue up in purple and yellow. And it didn’t take NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Katie Emmer much longer to reach the same conclusion. “Football is crazy around here, so it's been fun to experience that firsthand so far this season,” says Emmer while sitting in a Wells Fargo Center conference room. Across the street at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles are sitting at a disappointing 5-5 little more than midway through the season, but the city’s passion for the team never waivers despite the standings. Emmer was bemused when, during her first Sunday in town, the pews in a South Philly church she attended were filled with families in midnight green. Falling into Place But while the broadcaster couldn’t help but notice Philly bleeds green, it’s the orange and the black that Emmer moved here to cover. The Minnesota native came here in September 2019 to host Flyers pre and postgame shows on NBC Sports Philadelphia. She left a job covering the Minnesota Wild, Twins, Lynx, Timberwolves and Golden Gophers at Fox Sports North to do so. Transitioning to covering just hockey in an NFL-obsessed Northeast city has been a major shift for Emmer, but an exciting one. She’s been a lifelong hockey fan. It probably doesn’t hurt that the on-ice product surpassed expectations early in the season, with the Flyers having their best November since a 22-year-old Eric Lindros was captaining the 1995-96 squad. But while everyone loves a winner, Emmer has always known she wanted to be around sports her whole life regardless of win-lose columns. Eventually, the five sport athlete (she played volleyball, basketball, softball and soccer in addition to hockey) realized being on camera was her path to realizing that goal. “I see a lot with other great women in this industry – and men too – everyone has their own sort of story,” she says. “I had a friend in college who said he was calling games in high school, and I have those memories, but honestly it just came upon me one day. I think that my mom always wants to take credit, so I'll give her credit, but she's like, ‘You should go onto, you should be on TV. You're going to be on TV in your career.’ “And, I was like, ‘We'll see. Yeah, we'll figure it out.’ And, it all just fell into place. I played basketball in college for a short stint, and I realized, ‘You know what, I'm going to hang everything up and what's a way to stick around sports?’" Of course, it wasn’t quite so easy of hearing she should be on TV and then one day being there in a top- five media market. After starting school in Hawaii, Emmer transferred back home and finished her broadcasting education at Minnesota’s St. Cloud State University. There, she joined the student broadcast crew covering the school’s Division I hockey team. “It was a dream come true for me in Minnesota,” she recalls. “And, you get that pressure, and you get that feel right away, and you're younger and you get to... just get all the vibes.” Stepping Up They were vibes that Emmer loved. Being in front of a camera when, for example, a graphic cue goes down and it was on Emmer to find a way to keep the show going made her panic some at first, but it also served to round her into form. Anything can happen during a live TV show, and Emmer learned as a student broadcaster to be ready for that. But while getting that experience while still in school was important to Emmer’s success, she credits her willingness to work hard and take on virtually any assignment with getting her to where she is today. Early in her career, the broadcaster offered to hold papers for others, to do behind-the-scenes work in production trucks and even to work scoreboards. Doing that sort of yeoman’s work can help anyone break into the industry, according to Emmer. While she acknowledges that sports broadcasting has historically been a man’s world, Emmer says that’s not so much the case these days. Maybe it helped that she grew up with six brothers who all played sports, but Emmer never stopped to consider whether the reality for women was different in her chosen profession. Having a great role model helped, too – Emmer made it a point to emulate NBC Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Michele Tafoya’s approach of never accepting that she was any different than her male colleagues. Aspiring sports broadcasters of any gender can flourish if they seize their every opportunity. “I think that my biggest advice would just be, to take any opportunity, even if it's like – and I know you hear that all the time, and I remember hearing that all the time, but it really is a true piece of advice that you should [pursue] anything that gets you around the game,” insists Emmer. “I learned so much more just working in a truck and answering a producer phone for an NFL game, or something, then I would have just sitting at home watching it.” Eternally Searching These days, what she learned has Emmer sitting behind a desk and in front of a camera while the Flyers continue their 44-year-long quest to win a third Stanley Cup. It’s a quest that’s seen them make seven unsuccessful Stanley Cup Finals appearances and parade through a seemingly endless string of individuals tasked with minding the net since Ron Hextall last solidified the goaltender position in 1999. None have stuck around for long enough to get the job done, but the team hopes that’s different now with 21-year-old Carter Hart, who started 2019 in even more impressive fashion than he did during his promising 2018-2019 rookie season between the pipes. While Hart has been getting the job done on the ice, the Flyers strong start to the season is probably also due in part to new head coach Alain Vigneault. The 19th man to hold that position since Fred Shero – who coached the team to its only two Stanley Cup championships during the still-glorified 1970s Broad Street Bullies era – Vigneault hasn’t exactly been shy about the team’s aspirations. Asked in a sports radio interview in November if he thought the Flyers would make it back to the playoffs after starting their summer early last season, the coach avoided coach speak and said outright this is a playoff team. “You know what? Anything Alain Vigneault says, I will agree with,” says a smiling Emmer when asked if she shares the coach’s optimism and confidence. And why not join him on the bandwagon? The Flyers entered December in position to make the playoffs and looking like they can hang with just about any team with an impressive statement win over the then-top-seeded Boston Bruins. But even on disappointing nights, such as a 7-1 October shellacking by the hated Pittsburgh Penguins, the show must go on. Ensuring that happens, says Emmer, can be crazy. “A typical game day, everyone's so organized, and we collect thoughts on a conference call, and we go over different things going on,” she explains. “For example, you know [Flyers rookie center] Morgan Frost was a big topic [after the game]. “Social, we talk about, you know, how we're going to incorporate that and promote that. We have a great team, as well, on the web. They're ready if Morgan Frost is going to score a goal, they're ready for a story to come out on that, and just being on top of everything has really helped me a lot too, to just see how hard people work around here and the passion for the company to succeed and do better.” A Bright Future? But all the preparation in the world can’t ever get Emmer ready for what happens that night on the ice. The broadcast crew always has hot topics and stats on-hand for the pre-game show, but everything changes the moment the puck drops, so there’s no telling what the topic du jour will be during intermissions and post-game shows. Good thing, then, that her time covering the St. Cloud State Huskies prepped Emmer to be ready for anything. “It's not about me, it's about the Flyers, but, of course, I came in new, and I looked at the team. I'm like, ‘New head coach, we have a new studio, we have, new things going on.’ But again, it's all about the team, and when I came into this, I knew there was going to be a spark. I was covering the Wild last year, and I kept up, seeing Carter Hart’s debut, and so it's been fun to meet these players, and especially see them. Again, not too fun, because it's been a tough first quarter of the season.” For the Broad Street Bullies, being “tough” was the only way to be. These new Flyers are redefining Philly toughness by beating teams on the scoreboard instead of in fights. It’s a strange look for Philadelphia, but then, so is a Midwest broadcaster who calls herself “the most optimistic sports person ever.” So far, the strange would appear to be as strong a fit for Emmer on set as it is for Carter Hart on ice.

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