Samantha Rivera is leaving CBS Miami for ESPN.
The network announced Wednesday that Rivera has joined ESPN Deportes and SportsCenter under a multiyear agreement as a bilingual host, contributing to ESPN’s English- and Spanish-language digital platforms. Her role will span hosting, reporting, and storytelling across ESPN’s biggest sports moments, with appearances on both English and Spanish-language programming.
Rivera has been a sports anchor and reporter at CBS Miami, where she covered the Florida Panthers, Miami Heat, Inter Miami, and Miami Hurricanes in both English and Spanish. She came to a wider audience in June 2023 when she went viral for stiff-arming a fan who tried to crash her live shot inside T-Mobile Arena during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Before CBS Miami, she worked as a sports reporter and anchor at NBC5 Chicago, Telemundo Chicago, and NBC Sports Chicago.
“To be part of such an iconic brand like ESPN is an honor I don’t take lightly,” Rivera said in the announcement. “The opportunity to work across English- and Spanish-language shows at the mecca of sports television is a dream turned reality, one I’ll forever be grateful for. I can’t wait to hit the ground running in Bristol.”
Rivera is one of several additions to the SportsCenter anchor rotation over the past several months. Madelyn Burke joined in March after a decade as one of the primary faces of New York Giants coverage on MSG Network. Treavor Scales returned to ESPN last May for the 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter. Rich Eisen returned to Bristol in April for a special edition of SportsCenter, his first time back at ESPN’s main campus in more than 20 years.
Rivera will be the newest face in Bristol when she arrives this summer.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.