Melissa Stark is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

television personality and sportscaster, best known as the current

sideline reporter Sideline(s) may refer to: * Extended side, the geometric line that contains the side of a polygon * Sidelines, the lines that mark the outer boundaries of a sports field * Sideline (app), a smartphone app * ''Sidelines'' (newspaper), the studen ...

for '' NBC Sunday Night Football'' and the former sideline reporter for '' Monday Night Football''. Currently a reporter for the NFL Network, she is in her fifth season as host of ''NFL 360''. She previously worked with NBC, primarily at its MSNBC subsidiary and as a correspondent for NBC's '' The Today Show''. In the summer of 2008, she anchored MSNBC's coverage of the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. Prior to NBC, she was a reporter for ESPN. Stark has been described as a "trailblazer" who paved the way for women in sportscasting, which had fewer women broadcasters at the beginning of her career.

Biography

Early life and career

Stark is the daughter of Walter Stark, an eye surgeon at the Wilmer Eye Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, Maryland. Growing up in Baltimore, her interest in sports began during her childhood, when she attended

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

games with her father, who treated players for eye injuries. She graduated from the Roland Park Country School, a women's prep school in Baltimore, where she was class valedictorian. Stark graduated magna cum laude from the University of Virginia with a degree in Foreign Affairs and Spanish. She was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. In 1991, she became a news intern on the assignment desk at WMAR-TV in

. Stark was a news intern for the '' CBS Evening News with Dan Rather'' in 1993 and 1994 where she wrote scripts and assembled background information on investigative pieces for health correspondent

Bob Arnot Bob Arnot, M.D., internal medicine, is a journalist, author, former host of the ''Dr. Danger'' reality TV series, and previously medical and foreign correspondent for NBC and CBS. Books * ''The Aztec Diet'', Harper Collins * ''The Best Medicine ...

. Prior to joining ESPN, from 1994–95, Stark was a production assistant and reporter with Virginia Sports Marketing in Charlottesville for the University of Virginia's ''Coach's TV Show'', with George Welsh and Jeff Jones. The series aired in all major markets in Virginia.

ESPN

Stark joined ESPN in 1996 as the host of the weekly program ''Scholastic Sports America'', where she traveled across the United States covering high school and college sports focusing on human interest and issue-related stories. From 1996–2003, Stark reported for ESPN's ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...

'', where she served as a regular contributor to ''

Sunday NFL Countdown ''Sunday NFL Countdown'' (officially ''Sunday NFL Countdown presented by Snickers'') is an American pregame television program that covers the NFL action for that week. The show airs on ESPN in the United States and TSN in Canada from 10 a.m. to ...

'' and the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning show, ''

Outside the Lines ''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play. The primary host of the show is ...

''. Stark was also the ''SportsCenter'' on-site host for the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

and World Series, and covered national stories including Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, golf, and NCAA basketball for the network.

ABC Sports

Melissa Stark joined ABC Sports in June 2000. She was the lead sideline reporter for ABC Sports' '' Monday Night Football'' for three seasons, from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

–

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, which included ABC's coverage of

Super Bowl XXXVII Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) cham ...

in San Diego. Stark also served as a reporter for ABC Sports' coverage of figure skating, the NFL Pro Bowl and celebrity golf events. In addition to her sports casting career, Stark has appeared as a guest host on '' The View'' and was the co-host of ABC Entertainment's 2001 pilot presentation of ''The Runner'', a prime-time reality-based program conceived by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

NBC News and Sports

In July 2003, Stark joined NBC News as a National Correspondent for '' The Today Show'' and would also anchor '' MSNBC Live''. She covered the

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

as well as the swimming and diving events at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She made her NBC Sports debut in 2004 contributing reports and interviews for the network's coverage of the Triple Crown and other big

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

events for the network. In 2005, Stark participated as a reporter for NBC's

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

coverage, hosted by

Carson Daly Carson Jones Daly (born June 22, 1973) is an American television host, radio personality, Television producer, producer, and celebrity, television personality. Prior to 2003, Daly was a VJ (media personality), VJ on MTV's ''Total Request Live'', ...

. She left ''MSNBC Live'' and ''The Today Show'' in November 2006. Stark covered the

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

and speed skating event during NBC's coverage of the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

. She worked her third Olympic Games for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

serving as an anchor for MSNBC's coverage of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. In 2022, Stark returned to NBC as the new sideline reporter of

Sunday Night Football Sunday Night Football may refer to: * ''NBC Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games by NBC since 2006 * ''ESPN Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games from 1987 to 2005 by ESPN * ...

, replacing Michele Tafoya.

NFL Network

Stark has also done field work for NFL Network shows ''NFL Total Access'' and ''Around The League Live''. She hosted the NFL Network gameday show ''First on the Field'' and the on-site pre-game show, ''GameDay Kickoff'' (renamed ''GameDay First'') at primetime designations along with

Shaun O'Hara Shaun O'Hara (born June 23, 1977) is a former American football center who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons. He played college football for Rutgers University. He began his professional career by signing as an un ...

Sterling Sharpe Sterling Sharpe (born April 6, 1965) is a former American football wide receiver and analyst for the NFL Network. He attended the University of South Carolina, and played from 1988 to 1994 with the Green Bay Packers in a career shortened by a ...

, and Brian Billick for five years beginning in 2012. Stark is currently in her fifth season as host of the

-winning series ''NFL 360''. As host and reporter for NFL Network, she is most known for interviewing players on stage at the draft and hosting red carpet events for the draft and Super Bowl as well the NFL Honors.

Personal life

Stark resides in Rumson, New JerseyMedium Well: Your NBC Olympics lineup - A blog on sports media, news and networks - baltimoresun.com
with her four children and husband Mike Lilley.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Melissa Living people American horse racing announcers American television sports announcers American television reporters and correspondents Figure skating commentators Golf writers and broadcasters NBC News people National Football League announcers National Hockey League broadcasters People from Baltimore People from Rumson, New Jersey People from Sea Bright, New Jersey University of Virginia alumni Women sports announcers Olympic Games broadcasters American women television journalists Year of birth missing (living people)