Sports simply would not be the same if it were not for every single person who contributes to this industry. Of course, we have the coaches, the players, and the fans. Let us not forget about the analysts and reporters who deliver to us the talking points and highlights as well! Can you imagine what it would be like if we did not have the likes of Mike Golic and Erin Andrews? It is not an easy job that anyone can do. This career has proven lucrative for them as well. Just so you know, they actually earn millions of dollars by covering the NBA Finals and the Super Bowl. But exactly how much do these people make on a single basis? Read on to find out!
$500K – Molly Qerim
Molly Qerim made a name for herself as the moderator of ESPN’s First Take. She has worked together with a couple of other legends in the sports industry, which ultimately helped the show turn into one of the top-rated TV sports talk shows. Before she landed the gig on the network, she worked on NFL Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. Over the years, she has covered a lot of big sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the NBA Draft.
$500K – Molly Qerim
$5 Million – Mike Golic
There are plenty of sports fans that tune in to a radio show called Mike & Mike. For more than 15 years now, it has been considered a staple on ESPN. Mike Golic works together with Mike Greenburg to give us the energy we need first thing in the morning. The retired NFL player is also an analyst for the coverage of NFL and college football on ESPN and ESPN2. When you hear this guy talking about sports, there is no doubt that he knows what he is talking about.
$5 Million – Mike Golic
$4.9 Million – Samantha Ponder
In the past, Samantha Ponder worked as a sideline reporter. These days, she is one of the biggest stars on ESPN. This sportscaster is also among the best-paid women in the industry due to her great reporting on football. She now hosts ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, which has become one of the most-watched segments on the network. Prior to this gig, she was a reporter and host covering college football for the network. She has covered basketball in the past too.
$4.9 Million – Samantha Ponder
$6 Million – Colin Cowherd
It is not a stretch to say that Colin Cowherd is the leading man of Fox Sports 1. There is no doubt that he is one of the most recognizable people in sports talk TV right now. His salary matches his reputation too. In 2003, he joined ESPN and ended up starring in his very own show on another network. In 2015, he transferred to Fox Sports as the host of The Herd with Colin Cowherd. It is always fun to watch him share his insights. Sports fans simply can’t get enough of him.
$6 Million – Colin Cowherd
$2 Million – Erin Andrews
Up next, we have yet another successful female sports media personality. In 2004, Erin Andrews started out on ESPN after doing freelance reporting. She has covered a lot of sports like baseball, hockey, and basketball through the years. Despite this, she is best known for her coverage of the NFL. At the moment, she is the lead sideline reporter on Fox NFL. She has covered the World Series to the Super Bowl in a memorable way. We are sure that she has since inspired a lot of people!
$2 Million – Erin Andrews
$235,000 – Lisa Salters
This ESPN veteran has been involved in the world of sports for a very long time. Lisa Salters has proven to be a very respectable media personality with her work. She used to be a collegiate basketball player but pursued broadcasting after she graduated. Among other things, she got to cover the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial not that long ago. Aside from that, she has also gotten the chance to cover the Olympic Games. You might remember her for her World Cup and Super Bowl coverage too.
$235,000 – Lisa Salters
$6 Million – Al Michaels
While ESPN is thought to be the biggest sports network, NBC Sports is not that far behind. Al Michaels can definitely take credit for this. He made it big thanks to his extensive play-by-play calls of NFL games. For two decades, he worked on Monday Night Football on ABC too. He has been a part of plenty of iconic sports moments. At the Winter Olympics of ‘80, he also called for the Miracle on Ice. He did the same thing for a game in the 1989 World Series that was interrupted by an earthquake.
$6 Million – Al Michaels
$6 Million – Skip Bayless
Most people will know Skip Bayless for his gig as an analyst on ESPN’s First Take. He had quite a lot of exchanges with Stephen A. Smith, but everything has to come to an end. In the end, he just moved on and ended up with Fox Sports in 2016. These days, he works alongside Shannon Sharpe on Skip and Shannon: Undisputed. He has been providing all of us with his interesting insights on big sporting events. We are not surprised to hear that he is bringing home a fortune.
$6 Million – Skip Bayless
$6 Million – Michael Wilbon
On the topic of veteran sports analysts, there is no way that you can forget about Michael Wilbon. He spent over thirty years at the Washington Post before he moved to ESPN back in 2001. Together with Tony Kornheiser, he was the co-host of a hit segment called Pardon the Interruption. Apart from this, he also spends time as a basketball studio analyst for both ABC and ESPN. You can be sure to spot him on the sidelines at the big matchups in the NBA.
$6 Million – Michael Wilbon
$200K – Cassidy Hubbarth
It is true that Cassidy Hubbarth is among the newest faces on this list, but we can’t deny that she is doing a great job! She worked as a reporter and host on the Big Ten Network. Through her hard work, she brought home a Southeast Emmy for SEC Gridiron Live. This all happened before she moved to ESPN to do bigger jobs. Among others, she has since worked on First Take, NBA Tonight, and Sportscenter. She has a lot of fans in the Windy Cindy since she was once a producer of the WMAQ NBC5 Network in Chicago, Illinois.
$200K – Cassidy Hubbarth
$78,200 – Rosalyn Gold-Onwude
This Stanford graduate started to make a name for herself during the 2014-15 season of the NBA. The title went to the Golden State Warriors that year. Rosalyn Gold-Onwude went on to work at Tesla Motors after she graduated but ultimately went into the world of sports. She has since been employed by PAC-12 Network and TNT. She was a talented player when she was a college student. In fact, she even made the Nigerian national team! She said, “As a woman of color in sports broadcasting, I want to do good work and have a positive, visible influence.” How admirable is it to hear such a thing?
$78,200 – Rosalyn Gold-Onwude
$6 Million – Joe Buck
Are you aware that there is a National Sportscaster of the Year award? You might have already known this if you are a fan of this guy since he has already won this title thrice in the past. Joe Buck has worked as a play-by-play announcer for the World Series ever since 1996. In 2015, he called the U.S. Open as well. He has become a household name in the world of broadcasting even though he had big shoes to fill as the son of Jack Buck. It looks like he made the right call by following in his father’s footsteps.
$6 Million – Joe Buck
$25 Million – Terry Bradshaw
Not only is Terry Bradshaw a Hall of Famer quarterback, but he is also an NFL analyst for Fox Sports. He did not earn “modern NFL money” in his heyday, but he was able to turn his four wins at the Super Bowl into a great broadcasting career. On top of that, he also had a reality TV show and does endorsement deals. He has an annual salary of $2 million, so it is not hard to see why his annual salary is this high.
$25 Million – Terry Bradshaw
$800K – Holly Rowe
There is no reason to be shocked by her presence on the list as Holly Rowe is one of the most prominent ladies at ESPN. She has been at it since 1998! Over the years, she has covered postseason bowl and regular-season games, as well as some play-by-play broadcasting. College football is her niche, but she works on men’s and women’s college basketball, track and field, and the Running of the Bulls as well.
$800K – Holly Rowe
$1 Million – Leeann Tweeden
We wish you the best of luck if you want to look for someone more versatile than Leeann Tweeden. She is a radio broadcaster, model, and sports commentator all in one! Her modeling career started after she won the Venus International Model Search, and it has opened the door to the media industry for her. She had a show on Fox Sports for six years. In the past, she has covered baseball, UFC, and poker as well.
$1 Million – Leeann Tweeden
$6 Million – Tony Kornheiser
Tony Kornheiser has proven to be yet another famous sports media personality. He also worked for the Washington Post early on in his career, but he ended up leaving it for ESPN. It was the right choice as he has since turned into a sports staple. While he is most famous for Pardon the Interruption, he works on other projects too. For one thing, you can listen to his own show via radio or podcast.
$6 Million – Tony Kornheiser
$1 Million – Pam Oliver
Mind you, Pam Oliver has been in the sports media world for more than three decades now. The Fox Sports star began bouncing around different local stations for nearly a decade before she transitioned to ESPN back in 1993. After two years, she left for Fox Sports and worked as a sideline reporter with John Madden. She later moved to TNT to cover the NBA playoffs. She is now an NFL sideline reporter for Fox. It feels like she has done everything you can possibly do in this challenging industry. How impressive!
$1 Million – Pam Oliver
$800K – Wendi Nix
Wendi Nix got her start in the industry as a sports anchor at a local network in Boston. After that, she moved to Fox Sports Net and then to New England Sports Network to WPDE in South Carolina. At the moment, she co-hosts NFL Live for ESPN. She mostly covers NFL games. There is no doubt that she has come a long way. We are sure that her yearly salary is only going to go higher in the future!
$800K – Wendi Nix
$10 Million – Stephen A. Smith
“They weren’t in Archdale, North Carolina, like I was, living on tuna fish and Kool-Aid, doing editorial assistance work during the day and at night covering high school sports in North Carolina for zero,” said Stephan A. Smith. He no longer lives off canned fish as he is one of the best-paid on-air sports media personalities at ESPN. The buzz around him started to build when he was working on Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, although he primarily focuses on First Take these days.
$10 Million – Stephen A. Smith
$1 Million – Charissa Thompson
Many people will agree if you describe Charissa Thompson as personable. While she is now with Fox Sports, she has previously spent time with GSN, the Big Ten Network, and ESPN as well. She has a great resume! After leaving ESPN and SportsNation, she went to Fox Sports 1 and helped debut the network in 2013. Aside from sports, she has co-hosted an entertainment news show called Extra as well. Let’s not forget about Ultimate Beastmaster either! She is truly a versatile person.
$1 Million – Charissa Thompson
$6.5 Million – Mike Greenberg
Let us now talk about the other Mike on Mike & Mike in the Morning. Mike Greenberg is one of the best-paid talents on ESPN, and he deserves it. He has been with them since 1996. He has been honing his craft ever since! Aside from ESPN, he once dabbled as a host of Duel on ABC. He was the co-host of Battle of the Network Stars together with Joe Tessitore too. A hard worker, he is a great example of just how far grit, determination, and perseverance can take you!
$6.5 Million – Mike Greenberg
$30 Million – Jim Rome
Jim Rome is the host of The Jim Rome Show, a CBS sports radio show. From Monday to Friday, he delivers the hottest and most insightful takes to more than 200 radio stations in both Canada and the United States. His show is 21st in terms of listeners in America. Talkers Magazine said that he is among the most influential radio hosts out there. Well, we can see the reason he is sitting on a fortune.
$30 Million – Jim Rome
$4 Million – Howie Long
You can always rely on Howie Long to get the job done. He was great on the green and dipped his toes in Hollywood in the past. The Super Bowl champ starred in Broken Arrow opposite John Travolta after he retired from the NFL. His broadcasting career is also doing very well. He has always loved the sport, so it felt right for him to go into this field. This is actually not an uncommon path!
$4 Million – Howie Long
$4 Million – Kenny Smith
We will admit that Kenny “The Jet” Smith was not exactly a star when he was in the NBA. Despite this, he did score a title when he played for the Houston Rockets! His popularity went up dramatically after he took on the role of a broadcasting host for Inside the NBA on TNT. Viewers liked seeing that he is a funny, witty, and “cool” guy. His experience on the court makes him perfect at his job too.
$4 Million – Kenny Smith
$7 Million – Bob Costas
It feels like the sports coverage provided by Bob Costas will never end. He has been at it for a long time now. In the past, he also covered big events. In fact, others say that he is the most famous broadcast to ever live! He understands how sports and society are related, which helps his career a lot. It is a lot of fun to see him make his commentary as he always shows us not just the play but also the big picture.
$7 Million – Bob Costas
$6 Million – Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry did not work as a commentator for more than a year, but he deserves a spot here. He hails from the soccer world and played for a couple of teams over the course of his career. While he worked as a Sky Sports commentator for a short while, he left to pursue coaching. We do not know how bold of a move this was, although he continues to rake in a decent amount of money in his new job.
$6 Million – Thierry Henry
$7 Million – Tony Romo
When Tony Romo retired from the NFL, he went on to be a sports analyst. From the look of things, he made the right call. The starting QB is now a part of the NFL broadcast team of CBS. He shares a booth with none other than Jim Nantz. When the 2019 NFL season came to a close, there were rumors going around that he would leave for ESPN and Monday Night Football. However, he ended up staying at CBS for a new $17 million a year contract. He is one of the best-paid sports analysts out there!
$7 Million – Tony Romo
$5 Million – Michelle Beadle
In 2009, Michelle Beadle hopped on ESPN. She is now among the best-paid women in the world of sports broadcasting. She hosted and appeared on a number of shows on the network for a couple of years. A decade later after she joined them, ESPN bought her out. Among her final gigs was the co-host position on Get Up! It was the attempt of the network to compete with other morning shows. Aside from the previously mentioned networks, she has also worked with HBO and NBC.
$5 Million – Michelle Beadle
$4 Million – Andrea Kremer
In the past few years, Andrea Kremer made a name for herself when she joined the Thursday Night Football team. She and Hannah Storm made history as the first female pair to announce play-by-play and commentary for NFL. Over the course of her amazing career, she has covered more than 25 Super Bowls for a few networks. Her “longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football” earned her a Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. She has won two Emmys too!
$4 Million – Andrea Kremer
$3 Million – Suzy Kolber
In 1992, Suzy Kolber was on the team that launched ESPN. She has since become a sports media staple. The truth is that she has not always been loyal to the network. In 1996, she worked with Fox Sports for three years. When she came back in 1999, she went on to be one of the most recognizable stars of the network. She is such a hit with the viewers that her likeness and voice even made their way into games such as ESPN NFL Football. You will know this if you played it on PlayStation 2 and the Xbox.
$3 Million – Suzy Kolber
$3 Million – Linda Cohn
ABC hired Linda Cohn as its first full-time female sports anchor for its national radio network back in 1987. Five years after that, she transferred to ESPN and has been a regular on Sportscenter ever since. It is pretty neat to know that she has hosted more than 5,000 episodes of it! This is more times than any other anchor in the history of the sports recap show. In 2008, she published a book called “Cohn-Head: A No-Holds-Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys’ Club.”
$3 Million – Linda Cohn
$1.5 Million – Lindsay Czarniak
After Lindsay Czarniak became known as one of the top talents on ESPN, she left the network to pursue a more lucrative contract with Fox Sports 1. It looks like her Sportscenter hosting experience helped her when she started to cover NASCAR for her new workplace. Apart from that, she has also covered other sports like football. In 2017, she made history as the first reporter to interview the players of the Washington Redskins after the tragic death of Sean Taylor.
$1.5 Million – Lindsay Czarniak
$1 Million – Jemele Hill
Did you know that Jemele Hill had been making a million bucks per year at the peak of her time with ESPN? She was with them for more than a decade and had great chemistry with Michael Smith. They had been so great together that they landed SC6, which is a sports recap show as well. Sadly, it covered so many topics that the network canceled it not long after it was launched. These days, Hill is now busy producing a podcast of her own and working as a contributor at The Atlantic.
$1 Million – Jemele Hill
$1.5 Million – Charles Barkley
This former NBA All-Star pick and MVP gave TNT the spark it needed when he joined the team of Inside the NBA. Charles Barkley is an outspoken player who did not win a title, although he has an Oscar under his belt now. He has been a hit with the viewers because of the hot takes, comic relief, and insightful opinions that he provides alongside another NBA legend: Shaquille O’Neal. The truth is that the whole cast of the show is great at their jobs. We will talk about every single one of them shortly, so bear with us. We will get to the others soon enough!
$1.5 Million – Charles Barkley
$4 Million – Michael Strahan
There is no doubt in our minds that Michael Strahan is among the greatest defensive players in the history of football. This Super Bowl champ had been wonderful on the green, but he has talents outside of the gridiron too. He works for Fox Sports and has proven to be good at this too. Aside from that, he also works on Good Morning America. This is even more lucrative than his Fox contract!
$4 Million – Michael Strahan
$1.4 Million – Dwyane Wade
“I am truly honored to be a part of this TNT family,” shared NBA legend Dwyane Wade on Instagram. “I’ve sat back and watched you guys for years create TV magic. I’ve watched this network give former players a voice and current players a platform. As a leader, I’ve always tried to empower and uplift the next generation and this platform gives me the stage to do that.” Now a part of the TNT team, it looks like Wade is more than honored to take on this job. Let us wish him a long and successful career!
$1.4 Million – Dwyane Wade
$1.5 Million – Ernie Johnson
We have yet another star of Inside the NBA. The show would not be the same without Ernie Johnson, who keeps Shaq and Barkley from killing each other. Aside from that, he also offers insights that nobody else could. He has shown us that he is a basketball expert and spreads his talent in other sports as well. Not only is he a thoughtful and intelligent guy, but he makes us crack up a lot as well.
$1.5 Million – Ernie Johnson
Lots Of $$$ – Shaquille O’Neal
You just know that Shaq does not do it for the money. After all, he has more money than we can even dream of! While Inside the NBA was doing just fine before him, he made the show a lot better when he joined the team. To be honest with you, we do not know how much the basketball icon earns for his work on the show. We wonder if he turned down payments like he has done in the past.
Lots Of $$$ – Shaquille O’Neal
$4 Million – Scott Van Pelt
Here is one more ESPN veteran on our list. Scott Van Pelt is probably one of the greatest broadcasters that the network has ever seen. In 2020, the network gave him a nightly segment of his own at long last. It is a great idea to tune in before you hit the sack if you are a sports fan. Over the years, he has covered a number of big sports events such as the Open Championship to the Masters Tournament.
$4 Million – Scott Van Pelt
$3 Million – Curt Menefee
Curt Menefee already knew what to do after he earned his degree from Coe College back in 1987. He decided to dive straight into the world of sports broadcasting. At first, he worked with a number of local stations in both New York and Florida. In the ‘90s, he began to work for Fox Sports on a full-time basis. He did the play-by-play for Fox NFL and NFL Europe. He has been enjoying a fruitful career that has only been getting better with each passing year. Good for him!
$3 Million – Curt Menefee
$2 Million – Jay Bilas
If you keep up with college basketball, you must know who Jay Bilas is. He is the expert that ESPN counts on for March Madness. After all, he has never failed to offer good commentary and advice on the fate of the future NBA players. We are sure that he draws from the four years that he spent playing at Duke University. He even made it to the National Select Team! While he is not the biggest earner on the list, he did get twice nominated at the Emmys in the Outstanding Performance by a Studio Analyst category.
$2 Million – Jay Bilas
Unknown – Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett was an All-Star pick a total of fifteen times over the course of his career. How impressive is that? This is the reason we trust him as an analyst! He is a part of the Inside the NBA team as well. He joined the program in 2016. Now a staple on the show, he has become popular enough to earn a segment of his own. It is called “Area 21,” which is a reference to his old jersey number!
Unknown – Kevin Garnett
Unknown – Tracy McGrady
Is there anything that Tracy McGrady can’t do? We are starting to doubt it. He first came under our radar as a Hall of Famer NBA player, but he has also done a great job as an ESPN analyst. He signed with them after his retirement. At first, he regularly appeared on The Jump. In 2016, however, he joined the team of NBA Countdown on ESPN. He breaks down the action for all of us over there. We do not know how much he makes, but we wager that it is close to that of his fellow NBA stars.
Unknown – Tracy McGrady
Unknown – Ahmad Rashad
In 1972, Ahmad Rashad was the fourth overall pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NFL Draft. He ended up spending his football career in the Pro Bowl. After he retired, he made a name for himself as a respected analyst. He started his career in this industry as a game reporter for ABC and NBC. Even though he was a football player, he hosted NBA Inside Stuff for 16 seasons as well. Recently, he also landed a gig with the Morning Drive show on the Golf Channel.
Unknown – Ahmad Rashad
$1 Million – Adam Schefter
Adam Schefter is one of the biggest stars of ESPN. Are you surprised to hear that he does not make more than a million bucks? He does not just break big football news faster than other people do for other networks, but he is huge on social media as well. The truth is that he started out as a journalist. However, he became an on-air personality back in 2004. During the same year, he was featured on Around the Horn five times. The rest, as they say, is history!
$1 Million – Adam Schefter
$1.5 Million – Rece Davis
Did you know that the contract of Rece Davis goes through 2021? We are sure that he is glad to have been resigned by the network for yet another contract. He made a name for himself as one of the College GameDay anchors. He allegedly brings home $1.5 million a year for his hard work. In 2006, he flirted with the idea of working for ABC to cover the World Cup, but his passion is in college basketball and football: “I know I’m the luckiest guy around. I get to watch basketball and talk about it.” We can’t argue with that!
$1.5 Million – Rece Davis
$1.5 Million – Hannah Storm
You were wrong if you thought that Hannah Storm had always been an analyst at ESPN. The truth is that she kicked off her broadcasting career with CNN in 1989. As a matter of fact, she spent two decades at the network before she signed with ESPN and took the broadcasting world by storm. In 2018, she made history with Andrea Kremer when they worked on a national broadcast together. All of her perseverance and hard work have been rewarded by the network for $1.5 million each year.
$1.5 Million – Hannah Storm
$5 Million – Chris Berman
Is there a more recognizable sports broadcaster than Chris Berman? This guy made a name for himself as one of the original anchors on ESPN. He achieved fame and notoriety with his ability to hand out monikers to athletes that simply would not go away. Its staying power has made him one of the biggest sports media personalities in the world. He had been bringing home an annual salary of $5 million at the height of his career. In this day and age, he has mostly retired. However, he continues to tape new NFL Primetime episodes for NFL. They are exclusively aired on ESPN+, which is the streaming platform of the network.
$5 Million – Chris Berman
$600K – Jimmy Johnson
In case you did not know, Jimmy Johnson had been one of three head coaches to lead a pro football team and a college team to world championships. We wonder just how many more he could have won if his relationship with Jerry Jones had been better. He makes $600,000 a year working on the Sunday morning pre-game show of CBS. We are sure that he would rather work on the green if possible, but this is not all that bad either.
$600K – Jimmy Johnson
$400K – Kevin Harlan
Do you agree that Kevin Harlan has one of the most iconic voices in the history of sports broadcasting? We bet you do. He does not seem to be scared of juggling several jobs at once as he calls games for both TNT and CBS. He helps the latter by covering college basketball and the NBA. For CBS, he calls NFL games on Sundays. He launched his career at the age of 22, and he has since been a part of numerous iconic games over the years. Some of his calls have earned legendary status in their own right as well! Without a doubt, this is one guy who deserves a spot on this list.
$400K – Kevin Harlan