NFL Network's Stacey Dales set to make history on Bears' preseason TV broadcast

Stacey Dales is beginning her 17th year covering the NFL, but she’s about to do something she — or any woman, for that matter — hasn’t done before.

Dales will be the first woman to join the Bears’ preseason TV booth Sunday, when the Dolphins visit Soldier Field (noon, Fox 32, 1000-AM). It will also be her first game broadcast from the booth after years of working the sidelines.

The Bears recently contacted Dales, a senior national reporter at NFL Network, to ask if she was interested in working with them.

“I said, ‘In what capacity?’ and they said, ‘A three-man booth,’ ” Dales said. “And I was like, ‘Hell, yeah!’ ”

She’ll work with play-by-play voice Adam Amin and former Bears quarterback Jim Miller. Fox 32’s Lou Canellis and Bears content presenter Jasmine Baker will report from the sideline. The crew also will work the Bears’ preseason finale Aug. 22 against the Chiefs.

Dales essentially has become NFL Network’s Midwest bureau. Having made Park Ridge her home, she has spent a lot of time with the Bears and their NFC North foes. But the Ontario, Canada, native took a circuitous route to the Chicago area.

She was an All-American basketball player at Oklahoma and led the Sooners to the 2002 national championship game, where they lost to Connecticut. Dales, a communications major, had been comfortable and confident talking to the media, and ESPN brass noticed.

At the annual Final Four dinner, they invited Dales to audition to be a studio analyst for women’s college basketball. She got the job, but first she had a WNBA season to play. The Mystics drafted her with the third overall pick.

“I played my first season in the WNBA for the Mystics, and the next day I was at ESPN calling basketball,” Dales said.

Working at ESPN while competing in the WNBA wasn’t easy. When she began to travel for broadcasts, Dales would ask the host school’s sports-information department for access to an auxiliary gym to work out. While most players played overseas, Dales would work with a trainer and play in men’s pickup leagues to stay in shape, all while working for ESPN.

“The WNBA is a four- or five-month season, and at that time, that supplemental salary was definitely important,” Dales said. “It led to burnout, though.”

Dales retired after three years with the Mystics and moved to Florida. But after a year away, she got a call from Michael Alter, who was bringing the WNBA to Chicago. He asked Dales if she’d come out of retirement to become the fledgling Sky’s first player.

“I said, ‘Absolutely,’ ” said Dales, who had gotten the itch to play again. “I quickly moved to Chicago. I had never lived in Chicago, and I immediately fell in love it.”

Playing for the Sky was a thrill for Dales because she had grown up as an obsessive Bulls fan. She would watch the NBA on NBC, then shoot hoops in her driveway, undeterred by long Canadian winters.

Being a part of something new and hopeful was special for Dales, but playing for an expansion team was tough. The Sky went 5-29 and 14-20 in their first two seasons, after which Dales retired from basketball for good.

She took a year off from work and moved to California, where NFL Network happens to be based. The network learned she was living nearby and asked if she’d be interested in a job. Though she had never covered the NFL, she was excited to learn and came aboard in 2009.

After starting in the studio, Dales began to travel — a lot. With only a handful of reporters at the network then, she was flying coast to coast every week. Dales asked her boss if she could move back to Chicago to be centrally located.

“He thought it was best, too, because I was going to be on the road, and I got super acquainted with the league that way,” Dales said. “I moved back to Chicago, and I haven’t left.”

All these years later, Dales not only has grace and presence on camera, she has the football chops to add to any broadcast. The only hiccup in her preparation for the season was surgery for cervical disc replacement May 1. She said all things considered, she’s doing well.

And as she prepares to make history Sunday, Dales looks forward to others following her.

“The women in our business, it’s such a cool collection of power,” she said. “I’m so grateful that the Bears are making me a part of this. But there’s so many with experience, and so hopefully this grows. I just feel real proud to represent the group that I work with and NFL Network doing this for such an iconic franchise.”

Remote patrol

Dave Eanet will retire as sports anchor on WGN Radio’s morning show, hosted by Bob Sirott, and Andy Masur will take over starting Aug. 28. Eanet will continue to call Northwestern football and basketball and serve as a fill-in sports anchor.

• Jason Benetti and John Smoltz will call the Cubs-Cardinals game at 6:15 p.m. Saturday for Fox. Karl Ravech, David Cone, Eduardo Perez and Buster Olney have the series finale at 6:10 Sunday for ESPN.

• It’s time for another Sky-Fever game on national television. Jordan Kent, Isis Young and Tiffany Blackmon have the call for CBS at 7 p.m. Saturday. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30.