There’s a new face on the sidelines for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”
With Michele Tafoya moving on to focus on politics, longtime NFL reporter Melissa Stark takes over as the sideline reporter on Sunday night’s prime-time offering.
Stark may be new to the sidelines on NBC but she’s far from a stranger to NFL coverage, as her history with the league dates back over 25 years.
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Who is Melissa Stark? Learn more about NBC’s newest NFL sideline reporter.
Who is Melissa Stark?
Melissa Stark is a longtime sports reporter with over 30 years of experience working in the media, getting her start during her years as a student at the University of Virginia from 1991 to 1995.
A native of Baltimore, Stark joined ESPN in 1996, quickly rising in prominence as she served as a correspondent on “SportsCenter” as well as a regular contributor across the network’s NFL offerings, including “Sunday NFL Countdown” and “Monday Night Countdown.”
In 2000, a 26-year-old Stark joined ABC Sports as the lead sideline reporter for their coverage of “Monday Night Football” as well as Super Bowl 37, which came at the end of the 2002 NFL season.
Seems like just yesterday 😂! So excited to be back…🏈❤️ https://t.co/LYR0GraaFt
— melissa stark (@melissastark) August 3, 2022
As her time with ABC and ESPN came to an end in 2003, Stark moved on to NBC, where she served in a number of capacities, including as a national correspondent on “The Today Show” and a member of NBC’s coverage of a range of sporting events from equestrian to the Summer and Winter Olympics before cutting back some of her TV duties in 2008 to focus on raising her four children.
In addition to her work with NBC, Stark joined NFL Network in 2011. She now hosts “NFL 360,” an award-winning show that uses documentary storytelling to profile the human side of NFL personalities.
Stark will continue her role as the host of “NFL 360” in addition to her new role as NBC’s sideline reporter.
In April, NBC announced that Stark would be joining play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and color analyst Cris Collinsworth for productions of “Sunday Night Football” beginning of the 2022 NFL season, with the trio making its debut at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 4 and calling games all season through the 2022 NFL playoffs.
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