Melissa Stark | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 (age 51–52)[1] Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Education | University of Virginia |
| Occupation(s) | NFL Network reporter NBC Sunday Night Football sideline reporter |
| Employer | NBC Sports |
| Spouse | Mike Lilley |
| Children | 4 |
Melissa Zoey Stark (born 1973)[1] is anAmericantelevision personality andsportscaster, best known as the currentsideline reporter forNBC Sunday Night Football and the former sideline reporter forMonday Night Football.
Formerly a reporter for theNFL Network, she spent five seasons as host ofNFL 360. She previously worked withNBC, primarily at itsMSNBC subsidiary and as a correspondent for NBC'sThe Today Show.[2] In the summer of 2008, she anchored MSNBC's coverage of the2008 Beijing Olympics. Prior to NBC, she was a reporter forESPN.
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.[3]
Stark was born inBaltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Walter Stark, an eye surgeon at the Wilmer Eye Clinic at theJohns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Her interest in sports began during her childhood in Baltimore, when she attendedBaltimore Colts games with her father, who treated players for eye injuries.[4] She graduated from theRoland Park Country School, a women's prep school in Baltimore, where she was class valedictorian.[5]
Stark graduated magna cum laude from theUniversity of Virginia with a degree in foreign affairs andSpanish.[6] She was a member of theKappa Alpha Thetasorority.[3]
In 1991, she became a news intern on the assignment desk atWMAR-TV inBaltimore. Stark was a news intern for theCBS Evening News with Dan Rather in 1993 and 1994 where she wrote scripts and assembled background information on investigative pieces for health correspondentBob Arnot.[7]
From 1994 to 1995, Stark was a production assistant and reporter with Virginia Sports Marketing inCharlottesville for theUniversity of Virginia'sCoach's TV Show, withGeorge Welsh andJeff Jones. The series aired in all major markets inVirginia.[8]
Stark joinedESPN in 1996 as the host of the weekly programScholastic Sports America, where she traveled across the United States covering high school and college sports focusing on human interest and issue-related stories.[9]
From 1996 to 2003, Stark reported forESPN'sSportsCenter, where she served as a regular contributor toSunday NFL Countdown and theEmmy Award-winning show,Outside the Lines.[10] Stark was also theSportsCenter on-site host for theNBA Finals andWorld Series, and covered national stories includingMajor League Baseball,National Hockey League,golf, andNCAA basketball for the network.
Stark joinedABC Sports in June 2000.[11] She was the lead sideline reporter for ABC Sports'Monday Night Football for three seasons, from2000–2003, which included ABC's coverage ofSuper Bowl XXXVII inSan Diego. Stark also served as a reporter for ABC Sports' coverage offigure skating, theNFL Pro Bowl, and celebritygolf events.
In addition to her sportscasting career, Stark has appeared as a guest host onThe View and was the co-host of ABC Entertainment's 2001 pilot presentation ofThe Runner, a prime-time reality-based program conceived byMatt Damon andBen Affleck.[6]
In July 2003, Stark joinedNBC News as a National Correspondent forThe Today Show and would also anchorMSNBC Live.[6] She covered theOpening Ceremony as well as theswimming anddiving events at the2004 Summer Olympics.
She made her NBC Sports debut in 2004 contributing reports and interviews for the network's coverage of theTriple Crown and other bighorse racing events for the network.[4]
In 2005, Stark participated as a reporter forNBC'sNew Year's Eve coverage, hosted byCarson Daly. She leftMSNBC Live andThe Today Show in November 2006.
Stark covered theOpening Ceremony andspeed skating event during NBC's coverage of the2006 Winter Olympics. She worked her third Olympic Games forNBC Sports serving as an anchor forMSNBC's coverage of the2008 Summer Olympics.
In 2022, Stark returned to NBC as the new sideline reporter forSunday Night Football, replacingMichele Tafoya.[12][13] Stark covered theOpening Ceremony and also replaced Tafoya onswimming events for NBC's coverage of the2024 Summer Olympics, her fourth Olympic Games and first since returning to NBC.
Stark has also done field work forNFL Network showsNFL Total Access andAround The League Live. She hosted the NFL Network gameday showFirst on the Field and the on-site pre-game show,GameDay Kickoff, later renamedGameDay First, at primetime designations along withShaun O'Hara,Sterling Sharpe, andBrian Billick for five years beginning in 2012.
Stark was the host of theEmmy Award-winning seriesNFL 360.[12] 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 theNFL Honors.[14]
On April 4, 2024, it was announced that NFL Network were making staff cuts and Stark along with three other NFL Network employees were being laid off from their jobs with the channel.[15]
Stark resides inRumson, New Jersey[16] with her four children, two of them twin daughters, and husband, Mike Lilley.[17][18][19][20][21]