Atlanta Dream hires franchise’s first all Black, female broadcast team
After the controversy of the past year, the WNBA team makes history
For the first time in history, the Atlanta Dream will have an all-Black, all female team of broadcasters calling their games this season.
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According to Yahoo Sports, Monday the basketball team announced that moving forward whenever they have a home game their new all-female, all-Black broadcast team, consisting of LaChina Robinson, Tabitha Turner, Angel Gray and Autumn Johnson will be front and center.
“As the Atlanta Dream experiences new beginnings, we are extremely excited to announce our new broadcast team for the 2021 season,” co-owner and team president Renee Montgomery said in a statement.
“This broadcast team of all women is another positive step in our goal of providing empowerment to the diverse Atlanta community. It’s exciting knowing that moments such as these will create momentum, and we plan to keep that same level of energy moving forward.”
It’s worth noting that Robinson, who was a four-year starter on the Wake Forest women’s basketball team, was also the Dream’s primary color analyst for the first 11 seasons of the team’s existence.
“When Renee called me about coming back to the Dream, it was a no-brainer,” Robinson said. “There is a palpable energy around the WNBA and the city of Atlanta that is undeniable. I’m honored to be a part of what the Dream is building under new leadership in this historic 25th season of the league.”
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Gray was a guard at Florida State who has since covered the WNBA. She also has a history with the team, and served as the Dream’s sideline reporter and color commentator in 2015 and 2016.
“It’s really exciting to get the opportunity to go back home and cover such a young, talented and explosive team,” Gray said about returning to make history. “Their speed is their strength, and it will be fun to cover not only the speed and athleticism of this team, but how they lead off of the floor and in the Atlanta community as well.”
Turner graduated from George Tech in 2010 and is also a former college basketball baller. Although she worked as a traffic operations engineer for several years, she never lost her passion for sports and managed to juggle both careers while also doing color commentary for Georgia Tech women’s basketball games while working for the Dream in 2017 and 2018.
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As theGrio previously reported, earlier this year, Kelly Loeffler, the former U.S. senator from Georgia, sold her ownership of the Atlanta Dream, giving Montgomery a stake in the organization. The franchise was sold to a three-member investor group that includes Montgomery, who declined to play last year due to racism and coronavirus concerns and retired from the league. She joined the Dream in 2018.
A majority share of the women’s basketball team was sold to Larry Gottesdiener, chairman of Northland Investment Corporation, a real estate firm near Boston. Alongside Gottsediener, the Dream will be co-owned by Suzanne Abair, president and chief operating officer of Northland, and Montgomery. The trio makes up the investor group.
The move made Montgomery, who plans to be hands-on in leading the team with Abair, the first former player to be both an owner and executive of a WNBA franchise.
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