A former Monday Night Football sideline reporter is reportedly coming back to sideline reporting and is taking charge of the sideline of Sunday Night Football.
According to Andrew Marchand at the New York Post, NBC has hired Melissa Stark to be their new sideline reporter for Sunday Night Football. Stark replaces Michele Tafoya, who left the sports world in order to enter the political sector. Marchand noted that “NBC Sports declined to comment” on the report.
Stark has been within the sports world since the mid-90s as she became a sideline reporter for Monday Night Football from 2000-2003. Since MNF, Stark branched out with NBC to work as a correspondent on Today and MSNBC as well as NBC’s sports events in the mid 2000s. Most recently, Stark has been a host for the NFL Network.
While Stark is a familiar face to the sideline reporter position, the news has come at a bit of a surprise. NBC already has Kathryn Tappen, who worked the opposite sideline from Tafoya in this year’s Super Bowl, so that fueled speculation that she would be the natural replacement. But in the end, it looks like it’s going to be Stark taking on the SNF sideline reporter role each Sunday night this fall.
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
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