Announcers?

Question

When someone is an announcer for something why do they call them "color commentators" where did that come from???

Answer 1

A typical sports commentator team consists of a "play-by-play" announcer and a "color" announcer.

The play-by-play one announces the game. Who did what? When? Where?

The color commentator, often a former athlete, adds the "why?" and "how?" to the discussion, adding some extra insight to the description.

You can look at commentators as trying to "paint a picture" of the action. The color commentator, with the in-depth analysis that only an expert can provide, adds the "color."

Answer 2

I think it's left over from the early days of television, and maybe even before that. The play-by-play guy used to describe the action and be an analyst as well, doing two jobs for the price of one. He no doubt got tired after a while, so someone was hired to provide a little "color" -- colorful sidelights to the game, kind of like a sideline reporter does now.

At some point, the outlets decided it would be good to have a full-time analyst working the game, so the roles split that way. The term remains, but mostly he is called an analyst rather than a color commentator.