Fourth in a series

Spotlighting Austin’s Sports Directors: YNN’s Ricky Doyle, the cable guy

Ricky Doyle
Ricky Doyle
Ricky Doyle and Mike Berman

With the heavy turnover in Austin television news, it is easy to forget that the sports directors have been here for many years. FOX 7’s Dave Cody has 27 years, KVUE’s Mike Barnes, 23, KXAN’s Roger Wallace, 17, YNN’s Ricky Doyle, six, and KEYE’s Bob Ballou, five.

In the fourth of a five part series, Ricky Doyle explains what it’s like to “feed the beast.”

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YNN Sports Director Ricky Doyle asks a rhetorical question: “What sports director hasn’t complained about not having enough air time?”

That’s not a problem for Doyle, 33, who has all the time in the world as he tries to feed the always-hungry beast that is Time Warner’s 24/7 Austin cable operation. Not only do Doyle and his three sports video journalists contribute six minutes of sports to YNN’s main news channel every hour, they have their own 24-hour sports channel to fill. Is it ever difficult to occupy the time?

“It can be tough in the summer, but this year we went big on the Olympics,” Doyle said. “You have to be creative. I went to the swimming trials. I do a running segment and reporter Julia Morales does a fitness segment. We can do things other stations can’t.”

Busy Evenings at YNN Sports

Doyle records his first sports segments for the news channel at 6:45 p.m. to air at 7:12 p.m. and 7:42 p.m. These are replayed throughout the evening at 12 minutes and 42 minutes past each hour with Doyle inserting updates, like game highlights, into each sportscast without having to re-tape the entire segment. He tries to have a finalized sportscast ready to go for the 11 p.m. hour, barring a late significant event which will keep him on duty as long as necessary. The final sportscast replays overnight and into the next morning, but Doyle will come to work in the morning if a major sports story breaks overnight.

The core six minutes of sports from the main news channel then becomes the main section of each hour on the 24-hour sports channel. In addition, Doyle and his sports crew record weekly segments, like extended versions of University of Texas Coach Mack Brown’s Monday news conference, another with the Texas State Bobcats and still another with the Baylor Bears.

The YNN sports crew also launched a 10:30 p.m. Thursday night show, “Your Sports Now,” last March. From September-November it is exclusively a live high school football show, with previews of the game of the week, in-studio interviews with a coach, feature stories on top high school players/teams and a recruiting segment. During the non-football season, the Thursday show can cover any significant sports topic.

“The goal is to eventually expand the 'Your Sports Now' brand to a nightly 30-minute show,” Doyle said.

Friday Night Lights a “Blitz” at YNN

Friday night high school football is big at YNN, as it is at most of the competing network affiliate stations. YNN’s show, “Blitz,” runs at 10:30 p.m., then moves on tape to the sports channel for multiple plays. The program won the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters award for Best Sportscast in 2011.

YNN also produces a 90-minute “Longhorn Gameday” pregame show before every Texas home game, plus the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma University in Dallas. The show is live from the UT Alumni Center on both YNN Austin and YNN Sports.

In addition, YNN Sports carries live Southland Conference games on Saturdays and taped Westlake High School games on Sunday produced by the school students with YNN traffic reporter Joe Taylor’s radio play-by-play added.

Doyle supervises a staff of four, including weekend sports anchor Mike Berman, reporter/fill-in anchors Julia Morales and Joaquin Sanchez and sports producer Dennis Kelly. All are video journalists who shoot and edit fresh video packages, and Berman, Morales and Sanchez all get to anchor regularly thanks to Doyle’s busy travel schedule to out-of-town sports events.

“I enjoy working for News Director Michael Pearson,” Doyle said. “He’s there when you need him but hands-off when you don’t.”

YNN Sports Director Learned Craft at ESPN

Doyle learned the art of footage selection and good editing as a production assistant at ESPN following his undergraduate years at Boston College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications while traveling across the country as the play-by-play announcer for the student radio station.
Following his ESPN stint, he returned to school for more on-air training at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he earned a Master of Science in Journalism degree.

Doyle started at YNN (then News 8) more than six years ago, moving from KKCO, the NBC affiliate in Grand Junction, Colorado where he was sports director for two years. He joined YNN when the 24-hour sports channel was launched, beginning as a sports reporter/producer. In the spring of 2007, he moved up to weekend sports anchor when John Hygh moved across town to FOX 7, and three years later he was promoted to sports director.

Doyle grew up in Seattle as a fan of the University of Washington Huskies.

“I was hooked on college football then, so I can't think of a better place to work than Austin, watching the 2006 National Champion Longhorns,” Doyle said. “I thought I was coming here for a few years, but the job has worked out well and I love the city,” Doyle said.

Echoing his colleagues at the other stations, Doyle marvels at how well the competing sports directors get along.

“At first, I was little intimidated considering how long the other guys had been here,” Doyle said.

Doyle also found a bride here. He and his wife, Courtney, wed just last year.

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High Score

Austin named the nation's pickleball capital in industry report

Photo by Henry Selis Photo

Other Racquet Social Club is back after city woes.

It's no secret that Austinites love pickleball. A new study proves just how much by ranking Austin the No. 1 city for pickleball in the whole country. Dallas and Houston also made the top 10 at Nos. 3 and 8, respectively.

The report was published by TeachMe.To, an online marketplace for learning sports (and sometimes music) from private instructors. It used data from its own platform, USA Pickleball, Places2Play, local pickleball associations, and more. It also referred to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), which named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America, with a growth rate of 223.5 percent over three years.

Similarly, TeachMe.To ranked Austin as the fastest-growing city for pickleball, and citing this as the main reason for the overall title of "the nation's pickleball capital."

It name-checked the Austin Metro Pickleball Association (AMPA) — with approximately 3,000-3,500 members — and the Austin Pickleball League (APL), estimating that overall, "15,000-20,000 people play pickleball at least occasionally in the greater Austin area." About half of those players — about 8,000-10,000 people — play at least twice a month.

The report did not include gender data on Austin, specifically, but it did note that not only are two-thirds of pickleball players female; women's involvement in the sport is also growing 50 percent faster than men's.

New courts everywhere
This probably isn't a surprise to people who have noticed the number of courts opened around Austin in recent years. By 2024, TeachMe.To's data shows 32 dedicated courts in Austin, and thanks to with a utility rate of 92 percent it doesn't look like that'll be slowing down.

In the summer of 2023, the online booking platform Swimply noticed how many pickleball courts there were in Austin compared to such great demand, and added courts to its service. In fall 2023 and summer 2024, at least two important developments expanded that availability: Other Racquet Social Club opened as a friendly, country club-like neighborhood option, and national chain The Picklr announced it's bringing five locations to Austin and Round Rock.

Perhaps because Austin is such a food-obsessed city, there seems to be some growing opportunity for food and beverage hospitality around pickleball, too. Other Racquet recently started hosting the Bill's Dips food truck, a spinoff of the popular downtown restaurant Bill's Oyster; and a pair of bars with pickleball courts, Drifters Social Coffee & Cocktails and The Pickle Pub, also opened in South Austin this year, with strong online ratings already.

The trend has even reached into real estate (see this cute house with its own pickleball court) and inspired athletes to introduce similar sports to the local market, as in the case of the padel club Paddle39. TeachMe.To's report also mentioned tech companies adding pickleball to their campuses.

Aside from growth, the study also considered lesson activity (including information about teacher availability and diversity of clinic offerings), infrastructure, community vitality, the tournament scene.

Austin had the highest concentration of all the cities of players under 40 (65 percent), as well as the highest share of national lesson bookings. At 16.90 percent, that means about one in six of the pickleball lessons contracted through this platform were in Austin. Lesson demand, the report says, is growing 125 percent year-over-year.

Elsewhere in Texas
Dallas was No. 3 thanks in part to its "central location" according to the report.

"The city's 45 dedicated courts and 85 [percent] public accessibility rate have fostered one of the most active competitive scenes in the country, with 8,500 registered league players," it says. "The combination of strong tournament presence, extensive infrastructure, and a 112% growth in lesson bookings solidifies Dallas as a powerhouse in the national pickleball landscape."

Houston made No. 8 with an emphasis on integrating pickleball with other sports.

"The city's 22 dedicated courts have seen a 92% increase in lesson bookings, driven by innovative programming that includes the nation's first corporate league system," it says. "Houston's success in integrating pickleball into existing sports infrastructure while maintaining 72% year-round utilization demonstrates a sustainable model for rapid growth."

Overall predictions
After laying out data about the top cities in pickleball, the report made some predictions. As the Austin newcomer mentioned above believes, the report also thinks padel is the next big thing. It also guesses more cities will act like Houston by focusing on hybrid facilities.

It also expects to see an expanded professional circuit and mainstream coverage, more technology used on the court, a rise in the prevalence of young players, and more opportunities in corporate wellness and real estate. "Dedicated pickleball facilities will become as common as swimming pools in luxury developments," it says. Texans will be the judge of that one.

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