Colleen Dominguez had been an ESPN personality since March 2004. She left on February 10th 2014, and joined Fox Sports 1 seventeen days later. Now she’s using FS1 for age discrimination, and her lawyer cited her once co-worker Holly Sonders in the claim.
Colleen Dominguez is 45, while Sonders is 28. Here’s a link to more on Sonders’ role in this situation.
Today, the San Diego Union-Tribune published Dominguez’s op-ed explaining her position and rationale.
In my industry, those in the executive offices seem to think they know exactly what and who viewers want to watch. Many of those executives are men. At Fox Sports they most certainly are. Trust me, the irony isn’t lost on me that men my age are telling me that I’m no longer good enough because I’m their age. It was humiliating for me to think about them sitting in meetings evaluating video of my face and body as well as when there was office talk about management possibly asking me to get a facelift. It’s almost 2016 and this is the message networks want to send to our mothers, sisters, daughters, neighbors and co-workers. When it comes to women, youth is valuable and experience is disposable. Really?
Fox Sports 1 described her as a “key personality” in the agreement, and expected her to play a major role in its coverage. Despite that sentiment, the complaint said, Dominguez’s assignments quickly diminished. Dominguez claimed that she started working on getting interviews for her own benefit, because Fox Sports 1 wouldn’t give her anything.
Colleen Dominguez (born 12/31/1969) was a native of Sayre, Pennsylvania. Dominguez is a graduate of California State University at Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal studies. Colleen Dominguez worked at the Fox News magazine, Front Page (1992-1994), then was a producer at NBC News (1994-1995). She then became a reporter for KTLA-TV in Los Angeles (1995-1996).
Colleen Dominguez was also a correspondent for NBC Network News, reporting for the Today Show, Nightly News, and MSNBC from 1996 through 2003.
The story of a massive sports TV network replacing a woman with a much younger replacement is quite familiar lately. Look at Pam Oliver and her claims against FOX, as they placed Erin Andrews in roles traditionally given to Oliver. That situation also inspired the worst/most misleading press release in recent memory.
The Holly Sonders/Dominguez situation is also reminiscent of NBC removing Alex Flanagan and installing Kathryn Tappen instead.
In fact, Flanagan even publicly voiced her support for Colleen Dominguez:
Excellent article by @ColleenD__ on age discrimination against women in sportsTV. I share her sentiments. https://t.co/hlrTIOSrJV
— Alex Flanagan (@Alex_Flanagan) January 2, 2016
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram