Sarah Spain’s role as a featured writer and on-air personality for ESPN will continue, and she will also be adding a new gig as a radio host for the network. ESPN announced on Tuesday that the reporter and columnist signed a multi-year extension. The Chicago Tribune reports that Spain agreed to a four-year contract.
In addition to her work for espnW and appearances across multiple ESPN platforms, Spain will also co-host a show on ESPN Radio weeknights with Israel Gutierrez. Izzy and Spain will debut next Monday, Sept. 26 in the 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET slot. She replaces Jorge Sedano, who is moving on to a Monday studio show on ESPN 2 and a show on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles with Keyshawn Johnson.
“(The show) won’t be about how do Izzy and I talk about sports as a gay man and a woman, moreso we’re talking about a lot of the same things (as traditional sports radio hosts), but by virtue of what has happened to us in our lives thus far and how we see things, you just might get a different perspective,” Spain told the Tribune‘s Phil Thompson.
On the TV side, Spain will continue to be a regular panelist on Around the Horn, while also contributing to SportsCenter and appearing on other ESPN and ESPN Radio programming, such as The Dan Le Batard Show and His & Hers. She will also still appear on ESPN Radio’s weekly show espnW Presents: The Trifecta on ESPN Radio with Kate Fagan and Jane McManus and host the That’s What She Said podcast. Additionally, Spain was part of all-female panels on First Take and Around the Horn.
When asked about the importance of a diversity of voices in newsrooms and on television, Spain added this in her Tribune interview:
“I think the real big turning point for sports for every outlet was the Ray Rice incident (in which the former Ravens running back was seen punching his then-fiancee on an elevator security camera). If you didn’t have, existing within your company, the right voices to talk about it, a lot of things are handled wrong, a lot of people didn’t understand the dynamics of (domestic violence) or the perspective of an alleged victim,” she said.
Spain has been with ESPN since 2010, anchoring SportsCenter updates for Chicago’s ESPN 1000.
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