How to prepare for a live sports commentary

Definitions used on this page

• Prep is everything a commentator does before going on air to know the people and the story of an event.
• Talking point is one fact or angle you can say in a single breath, prepared for a specific broadcast.
• Fill time is material for breaks in play: stoppages, injuries, rain delays, the walk between holes.
• Source label is a mark on a fact that tells you where it came from.
• Spotting board is a one-page chart of both teams or the field, traditionally printed, used for identification during play.

Step 1: Confirm what data you will have (one week to three days before)

Before you research a single player, find out what your screen will show on the day. Will you have the squad before the match? Live line-ups and events? A start list with bib numbers?

This decides how much you have to build yourself. For lower leagues the answer is often no: many smaller competitions have no squad source a tool can use before kick-off. Our live tables, for example football coverage, show which competitions have squads and live data, with the date they were measured. If yours does not, you build the player list by hand from the clubs' own pages, and you should start earlier.

Step 2: Build the list of people (three days to two days before)

Make one list of everyone who might matter: players, coaches, referees, and for individual sports the whole field. For each person, start with the facts that never change during the week:

• name, and how to pronounce it;
• number or bib, position or discipline;
• age (check for a birthday this week; it is an easy, safe line);
• club or nation.

Mark the ones you expect to talk about most. In golf that might be eight to ten players in a field of well over a hundred. In team sports, it is usually the players involved in the story of the match.

Pronunciation is part of prep, not an afterthought. Ask the team's media officer or, where possible, the athlete. An athlete who writes down how to say their own name is the best source there is.

Step 3: Write short notes on each person (two days before)

A note is something you noticed, not a statistic you can look up live: "back after a knee injury", "his father played in this league", "changed coach in the summer". Keep each note to one or two lines.

Two habits that pay off:

• Write notes on the person, not the match. If your notes stay with the player, next month's preparation starts where this one ended.
• Keep background separate from what you will say. Some of what you know is context you would not say on air. Keep it in your own notes, apart from the talking points you plan to use.

Step 4: Turn the best notes into talking points (the day before)

A talking point is a note rewritten so you can say it. Test each one by saying it out loud: if it needs a second breath, it is too long.

Aim for more than you need. Most talking points are never used, because the match decides the story. A workable starting point is two or three per main character and five or six about the event itself.

Watch two kinds of sentences especially closely:

• Time-dependent claims ("top of the league", "in form"): check them again on the day.
• Negative claims ("has never", "first since"): the easiest to get wrong. Say them only if you have checked the source.

Step 5: Label where every fact came from (as you write)

Mark each fact with its source: official match data, the club, your own notes, a news article, the athlete, or an AI tool. It takes a second while writing and saves you on air.

Sources disagree more often than people expect. Two data providers will usually agree on the score, goals, cards and substitutions, but statistics such as possession or clearances can differ, because each provider defines and counts them in its own way. If you say a number, know whose number it is.

Step 6: Prepare fill time (the day before)

Write five to ten short items that are not tied to a specific moment: the venue, the history of the fixture or tournament, a rule that often confuses viewers, a story about the competition. These carry you through stoppages without reaching for weaker material.

If you work with an expert, prepare two or three questions for them too. Open questions that invite a story work better than questions with a yes-or-no answer.

Step 7: Final check when the line-up or start list is confirmed (the last hour)

The last hour is for checking, not researching:

1. Compare the confirmed line-up or start list with your list. Move non-starters down; check late changes.
2. Re-check time-dependent talking points.
3. Read your top three talking points out loud once.
4. Put away anything you have not checked.

How LiveCast does it

LiveCast makes this workflow faster and keeps it in one place. The people list comes from the squad or start list where the competition is covered. Notes are written on the person and follow them to the next broadcast. Talking points carry a source label (SOURCE, AI, FILE, OWN, ATHLETE), and time-dependent or negative claims are marked "Unverified" until you check them. Fill time and expert questions are separate sections of the prep package, and on your phone you can read the package and mark what you have used. Athletes can also tell commentators how to say their name through Athlete Portal.

For sport-specific checklists, see football, golf and handball.

FAQ