Everyone knows someone who has to work on Christmas. Whether it’s taking extra hours to make time-and-a-half, or an obligation you can’t wiggle out of, some people need to work to allow others at home to enjoy their holidays.
This year, Lisa Salters — one of ESPN’s most accomplished sideline reporters — will have an action packed Christmas. With NBA games on Christmas carrying more prestige than ever and Monday Night football falling on the holiday by happenstance, Salters is taking on the Yeoman’s task of working both the 76ers-Knicks and Raiders-Eagles for the broadcasts by the Worldwide Leader.
“I have a four and a half year old so the whole waking up on Christmas morning thing is important, witnessing what Santa Claus brought,” Salters, who will start her morning in King of Prussia (around 25 minutes outside of Philadelphia), said. “So I will have until about 8 a.m. to hang out and then the car service will take me to [Madison Square Garden], should be there by 10 a.m., in and out of make up and then start tracking down players and prepping for a noon tip off. And then after the game there will be a car waiting to take me to the Linc for the football game.”
Don’t worry, after the long day Salters does have a Christmas gift waiting, as her and her son will fly to Turks and Caicos at 8:30 Tuesday Morning.
Salters is in the Upper Merion School District sports hall of fame, a school she proudly graduated from. She later spent her college days at Penn State before climbing the ladder to eventually cover the Eagles and Sixers from the sidelines for ESPN.
It will be exciting to cover her hometown teams.
“The Eagles they are my team, the 76ers I grew up watching them,” Salters said, “so it has been exciting to see all the buzz around them. … They have great young players, and if they stay together for another couple of years they should be really good. And from what I understand they’re exciting to watch.”
As a woman making her name in an industry typically dominated by men, Salters credits her hard work and preparation for success.
“For me, my mindset has always been the same,” Salters, who has done everything from covering the O.J. Simpson trial to working on Good Morning America, said. “To put out what I want to get back. I wanted always to be thought of as intelligent and professional so that’s what I always try to give. I try and dress a certain way, I try to look nice, and what I love the most is when people come up to me and say they love my work and that I always know what I am talking about.
“At the beginning of the day I might not have known all that I needed to know about the Raiders and the Eagles but at gametime I will. That takes work ethic.”
