Cynthia Frelund

Last updated

Cynthia Frelund (born August 24, 1982) is an American television sports analyst and writer currently working for NFL Network, the broadcasting arm of the National Football League, and as a sideline reporter for the NFL's Buffalo Bills. A specialist in predictive analysis, Frelund has worked previously for ESPN and the NFL's League Office.

Contents

Biography

Early years and education

Cynthia Frelund was born August 24, 1982, in Okemos, Michigan. [1] She is a graduate of Okemos High School, [2] where she lettered in soccer and volleyball. [3] She grew up as a fan of the National Football League (NFL) and the star running back of the Detroit Lions, Barry Sanders. [1]

After graduation from high school, Frelund enrolled in Boston College, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology in 2005. [1] Thereafter she enrolled in Northwestern University, from which she graduated with a Master of Business Administration degree in finance, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. [1] She also holds a Master of Science degree in Predictive Analysis from Northwestern. [1]

Following the end of her collegiate studies, Frelund worked for three years as a financial analyst. [4] From there she was hired by the league office of the NFL, where she held a position working as an analyst for the NFL's Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Noto. [3]

While at the league office, Frelund worked on projects like studying the potential costs and benefits of moving away from a schedule of four preseason games and 16 regular season games to a split of two and 18, the viability of moving a team to Los Angeles, and suggesting adaptations to the league's rookie pay scale. [3]

Sports broadcast analyst

After leaving the league office, Frelund worked as a Predictive Analytics specialist for ESPN for nearly four years. [3]

In August 2016 Frelund left ESPN to take a position with her current primary employer, NFL Network. [2] She has worked for NFL Network in a range of high-profile positions, including frequent appearances on such shows as NFL Fantasy Live and NFL GameDay Morning. [2] She also writes a column called "Game Theory" for the NFL's official website.

In a 2018 interview with the Detroit Free Press, Frelund described her role as a sports journalist as "using analytics and combining that with information I gather from watching film, talking to people around the NFL, and former players I work with to come up with ways to help fans see the game through a different lens." [3]

In the same interview, Frelund was careful to make a distinction between sports statistics and analytics:

"Statistics is seeing that two defensive ends had about the same number of sacks, but analytics can measure who is the better player of the two. That often has to do with what they are asked to do in the specific defenses they are in and how well they do it." [3]

In conjunction with her job, Frelund makes use of computer modeling, writing her own code to generate thousands of simulations of each game, from which predictions can be derived. [3]

Since 2021 Frelund has also worked as a sideline reporter on the preseason telecasts of the NFL's Buffalo Bills. [5] At the time of her hiring, Mark Preisler, executive vice president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, producer of the preseason telecasts, called Frelund a "rising star" and noted his company's desire to "get away from a typical sideline reporter" in favor of making use of an expert to add in-game commentary about "next gen stats and trends." [5]

Frelund's association with the Bills was slated to continue throughout the 2021 season with at least one appearance a week on the team's One Bills Live program. [5]

Personal

Frelund is a certified Pilates and Group Fitness Instructor, gaining her credential in 2005. [1]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Israel Obinna, "Cynthia Frelund – Who is She? 15 Questions Answered About Her," Linefame.com, July 29, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Okemos' Frelund a Hit as NFL Analyst," Detroit Free Press, April 17, 2018, p. B2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mark Spezia, "Okemos Native Blazes Trail in NFL's Analytics Game," Detroit Free Press, February 4, 2018, p. C3.
  4. ↑ James Anderson, "Cynthia Frelund Wiki, Feet, Age, Bio, Married, Husband," Celebily, February 27, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Alan Pergament, "Bills Preseason Games Get New Sideline Reporter: Frelund Known as Analytics Expert," Buffalo News, August 11, 2021, p. C2.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Maguire</span> American football player and sportscaster (born 1938)

Paul Leo Maguire is an American former professional football player and television sportscaster. He played as a punter and linebacker in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzy Kolber</span> American football sideline reporter, co-producer, and sportscaster

Suzy Kolber is an American football sideline reporter, co-producer, and a former ESPN sports anchor and reporter. She was one of the original anchors of ESPN2 when it launched in 1993. Three years later, she left ESPN2 to join Fox Sports, but returned to ESPN in late 1999. In 2023, she and several other ESPN employees were terminated by the network in what was described as a cost-cutting measure.

<i>NFL on Fox</i> Television series

The NFL on Fox is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by Fox NFL Kickoff and Fox NFL Sunday and is followed on weeks when the network airs a Doubleheader by The OT. The latter two shows feature the same studio hosts and analysts for both programs, who also contribute to the former. In weeks when Fox airs a doubleheader, the late broadcast airs under the brand America's Game of the Week.

<i>NFL on NBC</i> National Football League telecasts in the United States by NBC

The NFL on NBC is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on the NBC television network and the Peacock streaming service in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michele Tafoya</span> American reporter and broadcaster

Michele Tafoya is an American reporter and retired sports broadcaster. Most notably, from 2011 to 2022, she worked primarily as a sideline reporter for NBC Sunday Night Football. Over the course of her career, she covered the National Football League, the Olympics, and professional basketball. Since Tafoya's departure from sportscasting, she has worked as a conservative political consultant and makes television appearances to discuss the state of American politics and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Spielman</span> American football player, coach, and executive (born 1965)

Charles Christopher Spielman is an American former professional football player who is a special assistant to the owner and CEO for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played linebacker for the Ohio State Buckeyes, twice earning All-American honors. He played professional football for the Detroit Lions in the NFL, where he was a three-time All-Pro. He also played for the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns, and coached for the Arena Football League (AFL)'s Columbus Destroyers. He was a broadcaster for Fox Sports and ESPN from 1999 to 2020.

Bradley Ray Nessler is an American sportscaster, who currently calls college football and college basketball games for CBS Sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon Wilcots</span> American football player, television analyst, and broadcaster (born 1964)

Solomon Wilcots is an American former professional football player who is a national television analyst and broadcaster as well as a head coach in Your Call Football. Wilcots played six seasons as a free safety in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cincinnati Bengals, Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes.

Ronald Dwayne Pitts is a former professional American football player and current sportscaster. He played cornerback in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers, and played college football at UCLA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Davis (defensive back)</span> American football analyst and former player

Charles Franklin Davis is an American football analyst. He is currently an analyst for NFL on CBS, working alongside Ian Eagle. He is also an analyst for Tennessee Titans preseason games, working alongside Dan Hellie. Along with Brandon Gaudin, he is the analyst for the Madden NFL series since 2017. He is also an analyst for the NFL Network, and has previously worked with Fox Sports, TBS, ESPN, The Golf Channel and Sun Sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Cox</span> American sports commentator

Heather Cox is an American sportscaster who is a sports reporter for NBC. As Heather Schoeny, she played college volleyball at University of the Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Flanagan</span> American sportscaster

Alex Flanagan is the Vice president of Broadcasting for the Montag group, a Wasserman company and a former American sportscaster. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She began her career as a news reporter and anchor and began covering sports in 1998. She has worked for networks including, NBC Sports, NFL Network, ESPN, and Fox Sports.

<i>Thursday Night Football</i> Branding for NFL games usually broadcast on Thursdays

Thursday Night Football is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time.

National television broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games first aired on ABC from 1948 to 1951. Between 1970 and 2005, Monday Night Football aired exclusively on ABC. In 2006, ESPN took over as the exclusive rights holder to Monday Night Football, and the ABC Sports division was merged into ESPN Inc. by parent company Disney. Afterward, ABC did not broadcast any game from the NFL, whether exclusive or a simulcast from ESPN, until they simulcasted an NFL Wild Card playoff game in 2016. ABC would then return to Monday Night Football in 2020, when they aired three games as simulcasts from ESPN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Rowe</span> American sports announcer

Holly Rowe is an American sports telecaster for the ESPN sports television network, as a sideline reporter for college football and basketball games. Rowe made Utah Jazz history on October 22, 2021, as the team's first female color commentator in a game against the Sacramento Kings

The following article details the history of Monday Night Football, the weekly broadcast of National Football League games on U.S. television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Taylor (sportscaster)</span> American sportscaster

Suzette Maria Taylor is an American sportscaster for NBC Sports. She has worked for ESPN and the SEC Network. She has covered college football, college volleyball, National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and men's and women's college basketball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MSG Western New York</span> Television channel

MSG Western New York is an American regional sports network that is a joint venture between MSG Entertainment and Hockey Western New York LLC. The channel is a sub-feed of MSG Network, with programming oriented towards the Western New York region, including coverage of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres and the National Football League's Buffalo Bills. It replaced MSG Network on television providers in the Sabres' media market in 2016.

On March 12, 1990, at the NFL's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, the league new ratified four-year television agreements for the 1990 to 1993 seasons involving ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN and TNT. The contracts totaled US$3.6 billion, the largest package in television history. This contract saw each network having rights to one Super Bowl telecast as part of the package. The fourth Super Bowl (XXVIII) was up for a separate sealed bid. NBC won the bid, and since they were last in the rotation for Super Bowl coverage in the regular contract, ended up with two straight Super Bowls. CBS is the only other network to televise two Super Bowls in a row. NBC, which had held XXVII, was the only network to bid on XXVIII. Previously, the league alternated the Super Bowl broadcast among its broadcast network partners, except for Super Bowl I; CBS broadcast Super Bowl II, then the league rotated the broadcast between CBS and NBC until 1985 when ABC entered the rotation when that network broadcast Super Bowl XIX.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.