Thousands of IBEW broadcast members work each year for Fox Sports, one of the largest partners of the Broadcast branch of the IBEW.
On day four of the International Convention, Senior Vice President for Field and Technical Management and Operations at Fox Sports Michael Davies spoke to the assembly to celebrate that relationship.
For the last 15 years, Davies and his team have overseen all aspects of production planning for FOX Sports’ national broadcast and cable productions including soccer, NFL, MLB, College and Motor Sports and many others.
“Your brothers and sisters power some of the biggest events on the planet with Fox Sports. In the trucks and on the field,” he said. “These men and women make up our camera and audio people, our video engineers and replay operators, the technical directors, graphics operators, and fiber optics technicians, just to name a few disciplines. And our family of IBEW members are Hall of Famers, Emmy Award Winners, and Industry Legends. These are the “magic” women and men who work their butts off to bring the sports to the country that bring us together as a nation.”
IBEW members, he said, will run broadcast the Super Bowl, World Series, Daytona 500, the All Star Game, and the Westminster Kennel Dog Show.
“The Super Bowl of Dogs,” he said.
Davies celebrated what he called the “partnership” between Fox Sports and the IBEW, citing the close work the two organizations did throughout the pandemic and in solving the labor shortage in the industry that it made worse.
“I know Lonnie believes this and it has been proven at Fox - we can do many more things working with each other than working against each other,” he said. “I feel badly for those companies who see it any other way.”
He closed with a benediction any fanatic would appreciate.
“May your sports be well-broadcast and all of your teams win,” he said.