Adam Schefter (born December 21, 1966) is an American sports writer and reporter. After graduating from

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

with degrees in journalism, Schefter wrote for several newspapers, including ''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

'', before working at

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

. He has worked as an NFL insider for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

since 2009.

Education and early career

Schefter was born to a Jewish family in

Valley Stream, New York Valley Stream is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 40,634 at the tim ...

, and grew up in Bellmore, New York, where he attended John F. Kennedy High School. He graduated in June 1985. He is a 1989 graduate of the

and a graduate of

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism (branded as Northwestern Medill; formally the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications) is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduat ...

. Schefter was an editor at ''

The Michigan Daily ''The Michigan Daily'', also known as "''The Daily''", is the independent student newspaper of the University of Michigan published in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established on September 29, 1890, the newspaper is financially and editorially independe ...

'', where he began his newspaper career. While at Northwestern, Schefter worked as a freelance reporter for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. After graduating from Northwestern in June 1990, Schefter was an intern for the ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

'' before moving to Denver in 1990, when he started writing for the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...

'' in September 1990 and then ''

'' in July 1996. While at the ''Denver Post'', Schefter served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the Pro Football Writers of America from 2001 to 2002.

Journalism career

Schefter joined the

in 2004 and appeared on '' NFL Total Access'' and also wrote for NFL.com. Before joining the NFL Network, Schefter appeared five times on

's '' Around the Horn'' as a substitute for Woody Paige. Paige was based in Denver at the time. Before ''Around the Horn'', Schefter appeared on ESPN's '' The Sports Reporters''. Schefter appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

twice in the summer of 2008, working as the sideline reporter for

Al Michaels Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television play-by-play sportscaster for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Amazon Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on network sports television sin ...

and John Madden during the Redskins– Colts Pro Football Hall of Fame Game and then the Redskins–

Jaguars The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat species in the Americas an ...

preseason finale. According to a ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' survey of fans published January 19, 2009, "NFL Network's Adam Schefter edged

's Chris Mortensen (34%–32%) for best (NFL) insider despite the NFL Network being in less than half as many U.S. households." Schefter was again selected as the best (NFL) insider in a November 2010 USA Today fan poll. Schefter was voted ''USA Today''s best "insider" for a third straight year in November 2011. In 2009, Schefter became a football analyst with

. He began appearing on-air on August 17, 2009. In October 2010, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' writers included Schefter in its "Top 40," a listing of the NFL's top officials, executives, coaches, players and media members. Schefter 2024 football conference

In 2014, Schefter was named the "Most Influential Tweeter in New York" by ''New York'' magazine in February, "Best Newsbreaker" by the sports media website Awful Announcing in its second annual People's Sports TV Award Winners in May, and SI.com's “Media Person of the Year.” On July 9, 2015, Schefter tweeted a medical chart photo indicating that Jason Pierre-Paul had his right index finger amputated. On February 5, 2016, it was reported that two individuals were fired from Jackson Memorial Hospital after a lengthy investigation for violating

HIPAA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, ...

laws. Pierre-Paul sued Schefter and

for breach of privacy in February 2016. In February 2017, Pierre-Paul and ESPN settled the lawsuit. In November 2015, Schefter was named The Cynopsis Sports Media Personality of the Year, which is presented annually to an individual whose work in the sports industry has transcended how sports connect with fans. In the same year, he was named honorable mention for Sports Illustrated Now's 2015 Media Person of the Year, and 2015 Sports Media Personality of the Year by the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

''. In January 2017, Schefter accepted an unpaid position on the advisory board of the Pacific Pro Football League. Soon afterward, he stepped down to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. Schefter joined the ''

NBA on ESPN ''NBA on ESPN'' is an American television sports presentation show broadcast by ESPN. It aired from 1982 to 1984. The show returned since October 30, 2002. It consists of branding used for the presentation of National Basketball Association gam ...

'' team for multiple games as a sideline reporter in 2017. His first assignment was February 15 between the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

and the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

. ESPN presented Schefter with the opportunity to work select NBA games as part of his new contract. In February 2017, ESPN Audio launched Schefter's "Know Them From Adam" podcast, featuring long-form conversations with newsmakers who have a connection to football. He is also an annual "NFL Combine Football Career Conference" speaker for the online sports-career training school Sports Management Worldwide. In September 2021, Timothy L. O'Brien of

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

reported that Schefter had invested in the sports gambling company Boom Entertainment, and questioned whether that interest could affect his reporting. In June 2021, an email Schefter sent to Bruce Allen (then the general manager of the Washington Redskins) was filed as an exhibit in federal court as part of a defamation suit by Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder against an Indian media company. The message included a draft of an unpublished article about the 2011 NFL lockout which Schefter asked Allen to review and suggest changes to, and referred to Allen as "Mr. Editor". In response, Schefter stated that checking information with sources is a widespread practice. However, according to Joe Rivera of ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'', allowing a source to review an entire piece is a significant breach of journalistic ethics. Schefter's actions were also criticized by writer and former ESPN host Jemele Hill. Later, Schefter issued a statement through ESPN which stated that while he did not give editorial control over the story to Allen, sending it to him had been a mistake. In 2022, Schefter was criticized for his initial report on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

about Dwayne Haskins's death, which many found to be insensitive as it mentioned his struggles in the NFL. Schefter later deleted the tweet and replaced it with a video tribute, as well as issuing an apology.

Radio career

Schefter is a regular guest on numerous radio programs, including 104.3

KKFN KKFN (104.3 FM broadcasting, FM, "Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan") is a commercial radio station serving the Denver-Boulder, Colorado, Boulder media market, market. Owned and operated by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International, KKFN airs ...

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, ESPN 980 in Washington D.C., ESPN 1000 in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and 97.5 The Fanatic in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Movie appearances

Schefter had a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in the 2005 movie '' The Longest Yard''.

Personal life

In 2007, Schefter married Sharri Maio, eleven months after meeting her on a blind date. Schefter had been married once before, but it ended in divorce; Sharri's prior husband, Joe Maio, had been killed at the World Trade Center in the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. Sharri brought Devon, her son with Joe who was born in the year 2000, into the marriage with Schefter. Schefter and Sharri have a daughter together named Dylan. Schefter's book about his wife's first husband and his own experience joining the family after Joe's death, titled ''The Man I Never Met'', was released in 2018.

Publications

*''The Man I Never Met: A Memoir'', , September 2018 *''Romo: My Life on the Edge: Living Dreams and Slaying Dragons'', , with Bill Romanowski, 2005 *"Real Sports Reporting" Edited by Abraham Aamidor, 2003 (Chapter on football) *''Think Like A Champion: Building Success One Victory at a Time'', , with Mike Shanahan, September 1999 *''TD: Dreams in Motion: The Memoirs of the Denver Broncos' Terrell Davis'', , with Terrell Davis, September 1998 *''The Class of Football: Words of Hard-Earned Wisdom from Legends of the Gridiron''

Footnotes

External links

Adam Schefter
at the ESPN Press Room * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schefter, Adam 1966 births Living people 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American male journalists The Denver Post people ESPN people Jewish American sports journalists John F. Kennedy High School (Bellmore, New York) alumni Medill School of Journalism alumni The Michigan Daily alumni NBA broadcasters NFL announcers People from Bellmore, New York People from Valley Stream, New York Sportswriters from New York (state) University of Michigan alumni