Do they have to do a tonne of research on each player before the game and how do they recognise players from lesser known nations?
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In the US, most professional level teams publish Media Guides to provide additional information about the franchise, as well as information on all of the players and coaches, to media outlets. It contains statistics on each player, a biography and other helpful information for the broadcasters. That’s a good reference but the broadcasters do have to memorize a lot of information as action (in most sports) occurs quickly. Additionally, player names on uniforms was not really a thing until the 1970’s. They would have to mentally match the number to the name of each player.
Add to that the broadcasters generally are fans of the sport they are broadcasting. They may spend their off hours watching out of town games so when the team they work for plays one of the others, they pick up a lot of information that way as well.
It’s their career. Just like a lawyer knows all the laws or a historian most of history. I’m not a journalist but I know a lot of football, and I know most players, and the ones I don’t know, if it was my job I’d do research on them. When you’re passionate and consistent about something, you remember.
They dont, they make a lot of research before the event and have cheat sheets. Also, depending on the size of the production, they get help in the background.
Not only do they have a ton of research ….
But they have an entire STAFF of people whose job it is to DO the research, summarize it, find the important parts, and print it out in an easy-to-read fashion.
Commentators aren’t idiots, they are very knowledgeable, but there’s tons of research behind the scenes, done by an army of people. And just like a nice powerpoint presentation, the research team has boiled down all that information into notes that are packed with information, but easy to read and comprehend.
The commentators have those notes in front of them.
I’m sure there are also experts who specialize in ONE TEAM only. An expert like that might feed information into the ear of the commentator.
They live and breathe their sport. I had a roommate that wanted to be a sports caster and the depth and granularity of his knowledge was astounding. He knew that the third string middle blocker back had just been dumped by his girlfriend and was a little off the game.
There is a reason that the jerseys of players in team sport have number and often name too on them. In individual sports, you put on a piece of paper with a number of the name. It is primary for referees, timekeeping, and other people that interact with the participants but it also helps everyone else that has the lineup in front of them.
If you are a commentator you print out a copy and also have a computer with the information that is updated live in major events. You do not need to memorize the name in advance but this is your job so you should read up on the top players. You do not need to memorize it all you an have a paper with the important information in front of you.
In team sport in there is usually different position on the field that narrow down the options. There might be a quite limited number of substitutions so it might not change a lot during the game I
If you watched the last game in FIFA Women’s World Cup between Brazil and Panama you could have looked at the lineup tab of [this page](https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/match-centre/match/103/285026/285033/400222858?competitionEntryId=103) and see the number, name, and position of the player. If there was any substitution you could not that down to for quicker reference
They do a lot of research before the game, and they usually have some “cheat sheets” prepared for them they can look at during the event. It’s easier if you just do one sport, and eventually you start learning everyone naturally. It’s not that they just sit down and learn every team by heart all at once.
It’s similar to any profession really. How does a pharmacist memorize every medication and side effect? How does a DJ know every song? Etc. It’s a combination of experience, research, and a passion for the subject matter.
For NFL broadcasts (with 53 active players on team rosters), production employs a “spotter” whose job it is to identify the players involved on each play. While the commentators themselves are knowledgeable and do considerable preparation, the spotters give them another layer of security.
Learning the name of the player **is** their job.
They have cheat sheets (and/or tablets/laptops) with names and facts and statistics.
It’s a little bit like a musician, they know by heart most of the music they play, but will use cheat sheets (musical partitions) to help them during a concert.
“Players from lesser known nations” — sounds like you’re maybe talking in the context of soccer and the women’s World Cup here?
Let’s start with the fact that if you’re a sportscaster, you’ve probably watched a ton of the sport you’re broadcasting, so you’ll have a super high baseline of knowledge about the sport.
Broadcast teams have two main roles: the play-by-play person, and the color commentator. The color commentator’s role is to provide insight, while the play-by-play person covers an in-time description of what is happening. The color commentator is in a lot of cases a former player or manager who is hired because of their knowledge of the sport. So it makes sense they’d know who the players are.
The play-by-play person may not have that level of insight, but they usually stick to one or two sports they watch a ton of. They’re more knowledgeable than the average fan. And since it’s a big presentation for their job, they prepare for it like you would for a big presentation at your job. They don’t go in blind — if you don’t know a team well, you study their lineup and try to memorize players’ numbers and names.
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