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Erin Andrews

© Nick Kova

Erin Andrews Probably Knows More About Football Than You Ever Will

From the NFL to Fashion, Erin Andrews Might Be the Busiest Person on the Planet

Erin Andrews knows a thing or two about unpredictability.

As a sideline reporter for the NFL, Andrews lives her life on the fly. Her days involve research and constant studying, filling her brain with reports and highlights from the week before pressing refresh and doing it all over again. Frankly, she probably knows the players better than they know themselves, keeping herself up to date with what she refers to as “storylines.” But while both hectic and exciting, this unscripted reality TV-esque life is just work, work and then some more work without much opportunity to take a pause.

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“It's hard, especially when you do two games a week,” she says. “And I also fly and do a feature. I'm home probably one day out of the week when we have two games a week.”

As for the ins and outs? Andrews describes her typical routine as “information overload.”

“It's a lot of studying, a lot of reading articles over the past month,” she says. “You skim through articles, you go back and you watch press conferences, you watch film, you get on the phone. We've got four guys from each game, we talk to them and take notes. There’s an hour and a half conference call with the coaches and the star players. You're watching NFL shows, skimming the internet and Twitter to see what's coming out of each practice. You feel like you haven't done enough with the amount of information that's being pumped out there … it's a ton of work.”

And yet, despite a schedule that has her mentally bursting at the seams, Andrews is pursuing a separate passion project: WEAR, a clothing line designed for women, like herself, who want to be fashionable and support their favorite NFL teams without having a huge logo across their chest.

AskMen spoke with Andrews about her success in a male-dominated industry, finding a way to connect with players and what separates WEAR from the other sports-inspired clothing lines out there.

AskMen: Aside from the usual football talk, how have you come to make sure players feel at ease when talking with you? Is there a key to earning their respect and making them feel comfortable?

Erin Andrews: I did a sit-down with Baker Mayfield who hasn't had the season that he predicted or wanted. Usually, I sit down with guys that are having great years, great seasons and really lighting it up, and that’s not the case for Baker, but he was great about answering every question.

I was just a person, I wasn’t just like, “So what went wrong? Why did it go wrong?” He's a human. He had a season that hasn't gone his way. He's still a person, he's got a family at home. He's trying to figure out how to correct all of it, and as lame as it sounds, you're just a person.

I was trying to make jokes, full self-deprecating, and the interview went really, really well. And then we had that horrible ending of the Browns-Pittsburgh game, and Baker was great enough to do that fantastic, post-game interview with me that a lot of guys would probably blow off. I think because he had felt comfortable with the sit-down interview that we did that week about his season, he knew he could trust me and he knew he could get his message out there.

You pull double duty between NFL reporting and co-hosting “Dancing With the Stars” alongside Tom Bergeron. How tedious is it to switch hats so frequently?

It's not easy. In preparation for two games, I don't have a lot of time. In my dressing room, I have football coverage on. I'm always checking my phone during the show to see what's going on. On my drive home from “Dancing With the Stars,” I'm listening to the Monday night games. Leading up to the show, I'm still trying to pump in information, schedule calls and talk to players to get my week together.

And for other women interested in a career path like yours, what would you say to them? What's the thing that’ll encourage them to follow this dream despite the obstacles in their way?

It's definitely got to be one [that] you love because you are away from your family more than you are with your family. I mean, there's obviously some really great perks of it all, but you miss the holidays. I haven't had a Thanksgiving at home in probably 15 years. You miss your friend's wedding if they decide to get married during the football season, you miss the parties, the weekends and all that.

You're often living out of a suitcase. You have to tolerate traveling, you have to know that marriage and kids and all that, a lot of that stuff is put on hold. There are a ton of sacrifices, and while there are a ton of exciting perks and advantages to the job, it's a grind. It is.

Even though you’re moving non-stop, you’ve found time to pivot into the fashion world with WEAR by Erin Andrews, your new clothing line. What’s the inspiration behind putting that together?

I'm in a football stadium twice a week, and I see what's out there. And also, I'm a fan. My husband played in the NHL, I went into the pro shops trying to find things to wear to games, and I thought that there was just a really big white space for women who wanted to be fashionable and support those teams, but couldn't wear it out to dinner.

I kind of looked in my closet and saw the basics of what I wear every single day on the planes, out to dinner, out to a bar, and thought, “What if we put logos on here in a subtle way?” People would still be able to support their favorite team, but be able to wear something that they could go out in everywhere and anywhere. It kind of took on a life of its own, we were able to get it done and thankfully it's really caught on.

How important is it that this line has been conceptualized by someone with your experience on the field? Do you think there’s a big difference in your line compared to other lines created by those who don’t have your sports background?

I think what's cool is that I'm actually there, like you said, at the games. I'm not just somebody that doesn't know what the demographic is like. I see what women are wearing, I hear what they're saying and yeah, I think there is something really cool about being there. I've seen my stuff the last couple of weeks on fans in the stands, and I look at them like they're an athlete. I start screaming, freaking out and asking them for a photo. I know from being a fan, I felt like a lot of the times stuff for women was very uncomfortable and unflattering, and our stuff is comfortable, like being in your jammies.

With 2020 fast approaching, what’s next for the line that you’re excited about? Is there another business venture you’re looking to tackle in the new year?

I just can't wait to see how we've grown within a year and expanded our line, I'm really excited for everybody to see. There's one article of clothing I wear a lot, and it was actually my husband's idea, he said, “Hey, what about this? You wear it all the time. What if you guys put a little logo on it? And every team could wear that.” Not going to give it away, but it is awesome. I don't think there's anything like that out there yet.

And in terms of football, look, I love what I'm doing. I can't imagine that Sunday or Thursday that I'm not on-air, so that's something I definitely want to do. Outside of football, I love being a part of “Dancing With the Stars,” and the entertainment side of things. We're looking at some opportunities coming forward, working in that area and expanding it as well. That was a very, very vague answer, but just doing more, which is crazy, but it'll be fun.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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