Another change is coming to NBC’s golf coverage.
Following the departures of Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie and the additions of Brad Faxon and Smylie Kaufman, interviewer Kathryn Tappen won’t be returning in 2023, per Geoff Shackelford.
Tappen will work as a reporter for Saturday’s edition of WBD Sports’ The Match franchise.
Her overall future remains a bit of a question. GolfWeek reported that Tappen and NBC were in discussions about a bigger role for her, while ESPN and TNT also had interest.
A source said she is in discussions for a bigger role with NBC and has interest from TNT and ESPN, which share the current rights to the NHL’s TV deal.
Tappen was one of NBC’s primary NHL studio hosts before the network lost the league’s rights to ESPN and TNT following the 2020-21 season. She currently hosts Peacock Sunday Football Final, and hosted Notre Dame pregame, halftime, and postgame studio programming this season, previously working as NBC’s sideline reporter for Notre Dame games.
What would a bigger role at NBC look like for Tappen? I’d assume it would have something do with the Big Ten. NBC will air weekly football games from the conference, and they’re going to need broadcasters for those games. Tappen could serve as the sideline reporter for that weekly Big Ten game, which would qualify as a bigger role. Combine that with a part in NBC’s Summer Olympics coverage (which is a year and a half away) and the Peacock Sunday Night Football hosting gig, and yeah, that might work.
But would it be big enough if ESPN or TNT come calling, dangling a role covering the NHL once again?
[GolfWeek]
