#FollowFriday: FOX Sports host Danielle Trotta takes a turn with the NFL
FOX Sports host Danielle Trotta is giving up her Friday off of work — for more work.
Trotta, 34, who hosts the daily program “NASCAR Race Hub” on FOX Sports 1 in Charlotte with Adam Alexander, got an opportunity to work the sidelines for the NFL on FOX for the first time on Sunday: Arizona at Cleveland.
She is busy preparing, reaching out to public relations coordinators about the players on both teams, “reading every article on the Internet” from beat reporters in those cities.
“I’m constantly online looking for new information … so I feel like I’m really up to date,” said Trotta, who will be on air at 1 p.m. eastern time from Cleveland.
Although her beat is NASCAR, she said, “In sports, NFL is king … I love being the racing chick but that’s not how I came up … I loved football and grew up watching it.”
Hence her excitement for Sunday.
Gorgeous Charlotte morning. Ready for Sunday Night Football! #gopanthers #byeeagles #undefeated pic.twitter.com/9Z9Xgupmm3
— Danielle Trotta (@DanielleTrotta) October 25, 2015
The sports enthusiast graduated from UNC Charlotte with a major in mass media and a minor in journalism, getting her foot through the mainstream media door as a senior, when she interned at Channel 3 WBTV.
Her job path shows flexibility — after her internship, she started at WBTV as a news editor, then made her way into the sports department as a photographer. “At any sporting event in Charlotte, I shot my own stuff, wrote my own stories … and the anchors delivered them,” she said.
The wisdom behind it: “I took jobs that were open, hoping the door would eventually lead to being on air,” she said. “It did.”
She asked for — and was given — a three-year deal to be a weekend sports anchor from 2007-2010 at WBTV when another anchor stepped down.
“I think being able to lend that voice to (a story) and present that information in such a way is also really satisfying,” she said of her choice to move into an anchor position.
She has been covering NASCAR since 2010.
Ok here is proof I followed through on our bet @DanielleTrotta. Eagles lost, I rock the Panthers jersey on #RaceHubhttps://t.co/rUT00nK40V
— Andrew Doud (@AndrewDoud) October 26, 2015
Parting advice for go-getters: “I always advocate interning and just getting your foot in the door and not taking the job you necessarily want but taking the job that allows you entrance into the facility.”
As for the NFL coverage Sunday, you’ll likely see her sprinting down the sideline to talk to coaches, to catch their motivational speeches, to talk to players and to host post-game interviews. “You’re the eyes and the ears of the sideline,” she said.
And that comes with spontaneity. “You go in with a plan and …if there’s a curveball you throw the plan out of the window and go with it,” Trotta said.
Beyond her ability to pivot, though, she is searching for one thing.
“When the red light goes on, when the game goes on, when the race starts,” she said, “I live for that moment.”
Photos: FOX Sports, Twitter
This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 10:00 PM with the headline "#FollowFriday: FOX Sports host Danielle Trotta takes a turn with the NFL."