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Jennifer Hedger, TSN SportsCentre co-anchor.

Photo via bellmedia.ca

If you watch sports in this country you know Jennifer

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:22 PDT, Fri July 21, 2023

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Jennifer Hedger is a Canadian television personality and the co-host of TSN's nightly sports news program SportsCentre. Hedger's first on-air experiences were with the London Ontario station for Rogers Television’s show Plugged In and was also host of OHL Primetime during the 1998-99 OHL season.

In 2001, Hedger was chosen to be a part of U8TV: The Lofters, a Canadian reality show and then went on to make appearances on TSN's talk show Off the Record before joining TSN in 2002 as co-anchor of SportsCentre.

In addition to her TSN duties, Hedger co-hosted Olympic Daytime on CTV during the London, England 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and was the Whistler Host of Olympic Prime Time on CTV for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Today, Jennifer Hedger anchors the 10 p.m. ET edition of SportsCentre, providing viewers with the day’s highlights from the world of sports. A mainstay on TSN since 2002, Hedger’s popularity transcends sports and she is a fan favourite in both the sports and entertainment communities.

Our City Tonight (OCT) recently sat down via Zoom with veteran TSN sports anchor, Jennifer Hedger (JH).

OCT: You have been at TSN for over 20 years. What have you noticed is the biggest difference, obviously social media wasn’t around when you started, but from your viewpoint, what do you see is the biggest difference today compared to when you started?

JH: I have to say a lot has changed, although some things have stayed the same. When I started at TSN, having a woman hosting SportsCentre created some curiosity. Not that there hadn’t been women before, but there wasn’t anyone on the desk when I started. There were a couple women reporters, but it was kind of a novelty act to be honest. Now there are way more women in the business, which is awesome, and I would say too, not just women hosting sports. I think they’ve come a long way having women in roles as analysts and play-by-play, we see a lot more women in expertise roles and that never would’ve been the case twenty-one years ago when I started. That sort of evolution I think is great, especially for women who love sports, and women who want to be in the business that I am in.

The job itself and the sports media business is shrinking. We see that with cuts everywhere. It used to be a situation where you would go to school, then you would go to a small town, and you would work at a small station, do the highlights from the high school athlete of the week, and that’s how you’d work your way up to be a national broadcaster. Those stations don’t even exist anymore. You can’t go to Dauphin, Manitoba and be the local sports girl because that station doesn’t even have a sports department anymore. Things have also changed, as YouTube is now a way for people to find a way into sports. It is also a completely different path to get into the sports market and once you’re there, you must do it all. You have to be on Twitter, you have to be able to write, you have to be able to shoot your own stuff, and you have to be able to present on camera.

The business has changed so much, but the sports themselves, not so much when it comes to women’s sports. As much as women are working in sports now, people still don’t watch WNBA on a consistent basis as they don’t have a national television deal in Canada. We don’t have a professional women’s soccer league in Canada, as they do in the US, and no professional hockey league in Canada which is crazy because some of the best women’s hockey players are from Canada. So, I think as far as women’s professional sports is concerned, we’re still lagging behind.

OCT: It’s interesting about how sports can bring a country together. I’m trying to think of the last time in professional sports where our country came together. For us, I think it was 2019 when the Toronto Raptors won the title that year. You mention women in sports, and they’ve given us lots to rally around in terms of soccer and hockey, do you have a special memory because you’ve covered a lot of events including the Olympics.

JH: I think we peaked with national pride in Canada 2010 at the Vancouver and Whistler games. I feel those Olympic Games did more for this country collectively. It brought us together as Canadians, and made us feel like we were all on the same team and pulling in the right direction. Jim, I don’t think it’s been that good since then.

Jennifer Hedger was awarded the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Award as a builder of Special Olympics Canada “Receiving the award was such a wonderful honour. I’m incredibly grateful to Special Olympics Canada and the amazing people I’ve met over the years. It made me reflect on how much I’ve learned during my time working with the organization and the important lessons that Special Olympics athletes have taught me about respect and equal opportunities.” (bellmedia.ca July19, 2019)