Sixers broadcaster Kate Scott, a Bay Area native, isn’t picking sides in Eagles-Niners: ‘I’m hoping for just an awesome showdown’

Before the NFL playoffs began, Kate Scott sent a text message to San Francisco 49ers president Al Guido.

“We’ll see you in Philly for the NFC championship game,” she wrote.

“You know it,” Guido replied.

Scott, the 76ers television play-by-play voice, and Guido both have ties to the Bay Area and Philly. Guido is from Washington Township, and, before rising up the NFL ranks, began his career at Comcast Spectacor, which at the time owned and operated the Sixers, Flyers, and Phantoms. Scott is from Northern California and now is in her second season calling Sixers games for NBC Sports Philadelphia.

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Scott’s prediction has come true, with the Eagles and 49ers set to square off on Sunday for the opportunity to advance to the Super Bowl. And she exudes excitement for both teams and the matchup, rather than conflicted feelings about her roots and new home.

“I obviously grew up, born and raised, with the red and gold but now have fallen head over heels for my new love that is Philly,” Scott told The Inquirer earlier this week. “It’s been really fun to watch the Eagles soar this year and to really understand how passionate this city and this whole area is about the Eagles.

“I’m hoping for just an awesome showdown on Sunday.”

Scott was born in Fresno, Calif., and grew up in Clovis, located about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco, during the 49ers’ 1990s heydey of Steve Young and Jerry Rice. After graduating from Berkley, Scott forged a path in radio, and, in 2011, joined KNBR, the 49ers’ flagship station, to do sports updates during the Murph and Mac morning show and fill in as host. Then came one of her first trailblazing broadcasting assignments, when, in 2016, she called two preseason 49ers games as the first woman to hold radio play-by-play duties for an NFL game.

But when Scott moved to Philly last fall, she knew immersing herself in the city’s culture “starts with the Birds.”

As a fan and storyteller, she has grown to appreciate the Eagles’ on-field dominance and easy-to-cheer-for personalities. When Murph and Mac brought Scott back for a lengthy appearance earlier this week, her message was, “Niners fans, if you [were] not, understandably, rooting epically hard for your Niners, I think you would really like this Eagles team.”

She shared tidbits with Bay Area listeners about the offensive line’s “A Philly Special” Christmas album, about star quarterback Jalen Hurts’ support of women in sports and about the origins of that sideline Batman cape. She added that fans of both teams can bond over their hatred of the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants and Tom Brady, who were all knocked out of the NFC playoffs to pave the way for Sunday’s Eagles-49ers showdown. She has outwardly cheered for both teams on her social media channels, creating a friendly back-and-forth with fans who initially objected and said she must pick a side.

“If anybody can respect someone born and raised somewhere and then moving to the other side of the country for work, I feel like it would be an Eagles fan,” Scott said. “I would never expect you to renounce your Eagles fandom if you got a job in San Francisco.”

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Instead, Scott hopes Sunday’s setting — that both teams are mostly healthy, and weather should be solid for January in Philly — creates a showcase similar to last month’s FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France, “with two teams at the peak of their greatness.”

“[Lionel] Messi and [Kylian] Mbappé just showing the world truly how great they are and making everyone, at least for that little brief period of time, a soccer fan that afternoon,” Scott said. “I’m hoping that the NFC just shows out, and that then the best team makes it on and knocks the crap out of whoever makes it out of the AFC title game in [Glendale, Ariz.] in the Super Bowl.”

That’s why Scott followed up on Monday with Guido, whom Scott describes as a “huge Sixers fan [and] was so excited when I got this job.”

“It just had to be,” Scott wrote of the Eagles-49ers matchup.

“Yep, it had to be,” Guido replied.