Having a national broadcast role in one language is challenging enough. Simultaneously holding regular national broadcast roles in two different languages is an extra level of difficulty, and only a few people have pulled it off.
ESPN’s Cristina Alexander is one of those people.
For the English-language side of ESPN, Alexander currently serves as a SportsCenter anchor and the host of studio shows Futbol Americas and Futbol W. She’s also the lead Spanish-language play-by-play commentator for the company’s NWSL coverage on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+. Beyond that, she hosts the weekly La Peña de LALIGA studio show on ESPN Deportes, and provided Super Bowl LIX week coverage on that network.
Alexander recently spoke to Awful Announcing about simultaneously holding broadcast roles in both languages.
“It’s something that’s very personal,” she said. “It just really resonates with the person that I am. It’s really in my core, in my soul.
“It’s literally how I grew up. My parents got married in ’86 in Monterey, Mexico, and moved to Houston. They thought it was something temporary with my dad’s job, and they were like, ‘Okay, two years max,’ and then 30 years later, they’re still in Houston, Texas.
“But what’s crazy is that I’m one of four, so we were all born in Houston, and I would go to school fully in English. And then I would come home and as a little kid, you’re like, ‘Well, I’m just going to keep speaking the language that I’ve been speaking all day,’ and my parents would be like, ‘Oh, sorry, don’t understand you.'”
Alexander said her parents’ insistence on speaking Spanish at home was crucial to her feeling comfortable in both languages.
“Of course, my parents were fully fluent in English. So it was a no-English household, because we had that outside the house anyway, so I really grew up in such a rich Mexican culture inside my house. I always say my house is Mexico, and then outside it was Houston, Texas.”
Alexander said being able to work in both languages honors that past. She said ESPN has given her a great opportunity, starting with the company as a Guadalajara-based correspondent in 2015, shortly after she graduated from the University of Missouri, working her way up to her present U.S.-based roles in both English and Spanish. She appreciates that ESPN has given her the chance to work across those languages.
“I don’t know how much I would love just having to choose one or the other,” she said. “To me, it’s never been an all-or-nothing situation. And I love still being able to speak the language that my parents taught me. And it was so important for them that all four of their children not only spoke Spanish, but really were proud of the Mexican heritage that is just running through our veins. That’s why it was so important for me to live in Mexico and have those years I did in Mexico City. And I feel like that’s just something that’s truly a part of me.”
“And then there’s also this other part of just being so proud of having been born and raised in a country with the opportunities that I’ve been given. Not only with my education, high school was an international school, which is also a great place to just thrive in when it comes to not being 100% American. And then having the opportunity to go to the University of Missouri, the States has just been nothing but positive when it comes to my career, my education, the place where I was able to grow up with my siblings. I had such a great childhood in the States. So I feel like it’s just really my essence.”
An ability to work in multiple languages is beneficial from a versatility perspective, but Alexander said beyond that, it means a lot to her family to see what she’s accomplished in both languages.
“When I had my first SportsCenter show, my parents talk about it as such like a big point of pride. They watched me for the first time, and my mom, I don’t know that she’s going to love me saying this, but she was like ‘I felt like I was giving birth all over again.’ Because she was nervous, and it was such a big moment for her, right? And so, that to me is just really great. And for them to be able to live that alongside me is also just really, really, really important.”
However, there are some extra hurdles regarding broadcasting in different languages. Those include divergent expectations for shows and from audiences in each language.
“It’s different when it comes to doing a show in Spanish or English,” Alexander said. “For example, SportsCenter, there was an adjust just because it’s a little bit more scripted. And maybe even the delivery is a little bit more formal and straightforward in a sense than when I do Futbol Americas, and that one’s in English too, the tone is just naturally different because of the rhythm of the show.”
For Alexander, the Spanish-language broadcasting roles with ESPN were a natural fit, as they built on the Spanish-language work she’d just been doing. She said there are some differences between Spanish-language broadcasting and casual conversation, but she’s used to them.
“Since I was just coming off doing six to seven straight years of only doing television in Spanish that I have all these like transitional words already down and very natural. And maybe I’ll use a little bit more of like a formal kind of word that I wouldn’t in my day-to-day or talking to my parents, for example.”
Alexander has a long history in English-language broadcasting, returning to her college days. But she said that it came with hurdles at first.
“I went to Mizzou, and we work at an NBC affiliate when we’re students still. But even then I’m just getting started in TV, right? I’m nervous. I did make up a word once, which I still think about to this day. And my news director about lost his mind.
“I was in Mexico for the holidays. The majority of my family is still there. And then I come back to Mizzou and I hit the ground running. I was doing a live shot, and it was about a building in downtown Columbia, Missouri, that they were wanting to demolish. So that’s the key word here, demolish, and the word in Spanish is demoler, so it’s very similar, right?
“And I was describing how the historic society wants to make sure that it’s respected, but they’re getting ready to just like demolate it, demolate was the word. And the thing is, I fully finished, I wrapped up that live shot and I was like, ‘I’m good, that was great.’ And I walked back into KOMU, the NBC affiliate, and they were like, ‘Hey, he wants to talk to you,’ our news director, and I was like, ‘Okay.’
“And he was like, ‘Do you realize you just made up a word on our broadcast?’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And I watched it back, and I just covered my face, I was like, ‘I cannot believe, I cannot believe that happened.’ But it was just my brain working against me and meshing both of the worlds together. Which is great, but it’s not great when you’re on TV and you make up a word.”
Speaking of specific words, that can be another hurdle with broadcasting and language when it comes to sports’ technical terms. Alexander said her playing experience helped her pick up English terminology well, making her comfortable talking about soccer in English on studio shows. But she’s not yet sure if she wants to make the jump to English-language play-by-play, given the need there to describe the match as it happens rapidly.
“I never like to say just straight-up no to things. And the possibility of maybe one day doing play-by-play in English has come up for soccer, and I thought exactly this question that you’re asking me, it’s a question that I’ve asked myself: ‘How am I going to do with the terminology, how comfortable am I with the terminology?’ Because it’s fast-paced.
“When I’m talking on Futbol Americas, that’s a lot slower-paced, it’s way more conversational. I can think about the next sentence while Herculez [Gomez] is talking, or Shaka [Hislop] is talking, or whoever’s on the desk with me. But this is really fast-paced.”
Alexander isn’t ready to rule out English-language play-by-play, but she said she’d have to be thoroughly prepared for it given those hurdles.
“I’m a sucker for a good challenge, but that is something that I have thought about. ‘Okay, I need to not only get comfortable with the terminology, but I need to be able to express it really, really fast, like at the drop of a hat.’ Because that’s exactly how the game goes, and I want to make sure that it’s properly represented in the way that I’m telling the story actively.”
But the English-language studio work Alexander is doing right now stands out to her as a great opportunity, especially working with Krieger on the weekly Futbol W women’s soccer studio show.
“It’s amazing. First of all, if you ever have the opportunity to meet someone like Ali Krieger, you know that you’re going to have a good person in your life. The energy that Ali has, for starters, is just so great. And then you have, on top of all of this great personality, her being comfortable on TV.
“And the experience…when, we were able to run that interview she did with Lynn Biyendolo, even the way that it started was just so like, ‘Okay, they’re clearly friends.’ And that just takes the interviews to another level because the players are naturally comfortable with her. And I feel very comfortable with her too, and just her knowledge of being able to talk about the game.”
Like Krieger, Alexander is also thrilled that ESPN is dedicating significant resources to women’s soccer coverage, including with Futbol W.
“Even talking to you right now, I think you can hear my tone and just how excited I am about not only a show like Futbol W, but just the content itself. It’s something I’m so extremely passionate about, and Ali’s so passionate about it too. Obviously, she’s recently retired and she’s getting used to not having her friends around her 24/7 and that safe locker room around her, and it’s just so exciting to be able to share a space with someone with her experience, fresh off the game.
“And she was so good, she was so, so good: a two-time world champion, World Cup champion. And I love Futbol W: it gives the game such a great platform to stand on and a platform that it so deserves. And I’m so happy that a place like ESPN saw something, not only just getting the rights to NWSL, but actually giving it that continuation and a place for fans to be able to still digest those great interviews, that great POV that Ali has. So I feel so lucky that I was even considered to be on this show weekly, and I hope it’s eventually more than just once a week.”
Women’s soccer fans are one group of oft-overlooked viewers starting to get more content produced specifically for them, from ESPN and other companies. Another significant group is bilingual audiences, with many younger viewers, in particular, consuming sports content in both English and Spanish. Alexander said her bilingual experience growing up is far from unique, and she wants to be part of a generation of broadcasters connecting with those audiences.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh my God, how do you do it? It’s crazy, English and Spanish, right?’ But I always love just reminding everyone that I’m one of millions, specifically Mexican-Americans. And at ESPN, you know, you have MJ Acosta, you have Katia Castorena who does an amazing job, to be able to connect with people on that level.”
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“One of the messages that I’ve also tried to say, and I remember I said this on a panel at ESPNw, and a woman came up to me after. I basically said like ‘You don’t have to speak the native language from where you’re from to say that you’re from there, right?’ It’s like if someone is Mexican and they feel that in their core, you can’t say ‘Well, they’re not Mexican enough because they don’t speak Spanish.’
“If you feel that pride, feel that pride. Even if you don’t speak the language, and if you’re curious about it, go for it. And she was like, ‘I’m so happy you said that because that’s exactly my case, and I always feel like people question my Mexicanness or my pride to be able to really just show off where I’m from because I don’t speak that language.’
She wants to be an on-air ambassador to those who relate to her background and story.
“I think it’s such a great reminder, being able to represent somebody who grew up exactly the way I did, or very similarly to the way I did, or someone who just simply sees it and says, ‘Hey, I connect with that in some sort of way.’ It’s really special. And I know it’s an important responsibility, and it’s a responsibility that I’m so happy that I get to have.”
“It’s also a big motivator when it comes to my job, not that I forget about it, but just having that reminder, I think, is so important. We were talking about the NWSL, and I mentioned that these players just go out on the field and they play for a purpose. I want to think that’s what I do too, every time I step in front of a camera or behind a microphone.”
