The Green Room Vol. 1: Rebecca Lowe

The Green Room is a blog miniseries aiming to profile some of the biggest influences on sports culture both on and off the field of play. Volume 1 will profile NBCSN Premier League’s host and star Rebecca Lowe. Rebecca has been at NBC for seven years and has also worked at BBC, Setanta Sports and ESPN. Now she not only covers the Premier League, but also the Summer and Winter Olympic Games on NBC.

Rebecca Lowe. To me, she is a catalyst for Premier League soccer in America. To her co-stars on NBC, The Men in Blazers, she is “One of the most articulate, intelligent broadcasters on television.” However you want to label her, she is brilliant at what she does.

Brilliant enough to help raise the average Premier League viewership in America to a staggering 34.6 million per season. To put that into perspective, in 2012 when ESPN and Fox had the contract with the Premier League, viewership was only at 13.3 million. NBC is not done growing either; last season, they grew another 2%, which as Rebecca states, it “is not easy to find growth in sport or a television product, so the fact we continue to grow is testament to the hard work and editorial nous that the NBC Sports Premier League team have put in over 7 years.”

Now of course, Rebecca has not been alone in pioneering soccer’s high growth in the United States. But she has been a very imperative piece. For those of you who might not be all that familiar with Rebecca Lowe or even the Premier League for that matter, here is the rundown.

When NBC acquired the rights to the Premier League in 2013, their goal was to change the way in which soccer was presented to the audience. Americanizing the sport was not an option. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, NBC President of Programming, Jon Miller, explained, “’In the past, NBC has been as guilty as all the other networks in trying to fit a square peg in a round hole when it comes to soccer and the U.S. audience," Miller said. "This time we were determined not to Americanize this product. The Premier League is English, and our broadcasts are uniquely English.’”

Rebecca said something similar to me in that, “We had a balance to strike back in 2013 - could we talk to the soccer fans who’ve loved the game for years as well as to any new fans who would be tuning in? That was our aim - to do both and I hope we have achieved that.” Achieve it, they did.

By mixing in-depth tactics and strategy with unknown (to Americans) nuances of the English game, they struck the perfect mix.

In the past few years, the production has been so popular, Lady Lowe and the rest of the crew at NBC have packed their bags. To go road tripping of course! They took their Premier League show to several cities and have hosted fan fests for thousands of loyal supporters in America. Lowe said, “It’s amazing to see how many people turn out to our fan fests when we take the show on the road and that just reflects the rate of growth.”

Over the past few years, Rebecca Lowe has turned into one of the major faces of the sport here in America. A cult hero of sorts. Her smile and voice are the first things many viewers are captured by when they turn on the program in the early hours of morning. And it is her wonderful preparation, friendliness, and humor that makes them want to stay.

Now how does the Premier League continue to grow from here? I asked the question on if the Premier League could make a move along the lines of the NFL and bring the sport to America for a squall of regular season games.

Her response, “Well the ‘39th game’ idea was mooted about 10 years ago and it caused a major stir! The problem is the fact that football in the UK has been around since the 1800’s and was not a sport that was made for TV. And therefore, the culture of the sport is rooted in tradition and the idea of taking a game away from season ticket holders or adding an extra game (who would be the home team? The away team?) did not go down well.”

But do not give up hope! She also added that, “I don’t however think it is a closed book on the idea. With the global reach of the [Premier League], I do think it will come back on the table one day. It will be an amazing publicity event for the [Premier League] and of course it will make a lot of money.”

The Premier League’s presence in America has grown at an extraordinary rate over the past decade. When it is all said and done, Rebecca and the rest of the crew at NBC for that matter, should be given piles of credit. She is a massive reason for my love of the game and has pushed me to want to continue to grow the game here in the states, Premier League or not.

Her final piece of thought for me was this, “We never take our audience for granted and the expectations on us as on-screen talent never loosen - and nor should they. We are always striving to improve week by week. And with all that hard work it makes it even more special when I see kids playing in my local park wearing [Premier League] kits from all the different clubs. It’s been a great ride.”

Lucky for us, the ride is far from over.