Meet America’s Top 10 Highest-Earning Female Sports Analysts

By: Lydia Iseh | Last updated: Oct 09, 2023

Just like participating in sports themselves, sports analysis is no child’s play. There’s more to it than merely making comments about an ongoing game. 

Every sports analyst needs sound knowledge of the game and to be confident enough in front of the camera. Those with charisma and sports expertise can earn a considerable salary. Let’s take a look at some of the highest-paid female sports analysts right now. 

Lindsay Czarniak: $1.5 Million

It is very likely that you have spotted Lindsay Czarniak covering an NFL game from the sideline. She reports for Fox Sports. Czarniak played Lacrosse in high school and got a bachelor’s degree in online journalism from James Madison University.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

After college, Czarniak gained experience with various media houses before joining ESPN in 2011. After six years of top-notch service, she was scouted and employed by Fox Sports in 2017.

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Hannah Storm: $1.5 Million

Hannah has 34 years of sports reporting under her belt. She started off with CNN in 1989 as a sports night anchor. Her niche sport is basketball, and she has had the privilege of working with the NBA for many years.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

Her given name is Hannah Lynn Storen Hicks, and she presently works as an announcer for Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football. However, she’s also still serving the nation as an NBA anchor.

Rachel Nichols: $1.5 Million

Sports Illustrated honored Rachel Nichols as the most prominent and impactful female sports journalist in 2014.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

The 49-year-old has been in sports reporting since 1995. She worked as a sports writer for various news tabloids until 2004, when she transitioned to television. Nichols presently works with Showtime Sports after a major conflict with her former employer, ESPN. 

Renee Paquette: $2 Million

Renee Jane Paquette is 37 years old and started her sports broadcasting career in 2009. She had her first stint with The Score Television Network. 

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

In 2012, Paquette joined the media team of WWE Promotions. She was a regular face during WWE backstage interviews and occasionally did pre-fight and in-ring commentary. Paquette left WWE in 2020 and now works for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). 

Erin Andrews: $2 Million

45-year-old Erin Jill Andrews made an early break in her career. Unlike other highlighted female analysts, she started her career with Fox Sports Florida in 2000, even though it was a freelance role.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Since then, Andrews has worked with ESPN and Fox Sports, joing the latter in 2012 as a host. Andrews is presently the lead sideline reporter for her employer’s NFL broadcasting team.

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Linda Cohn: $3 Million

In 1981, Linda Cohn started a life-long media career when she joined WALK-FM, a New York radio station. She later joined the radio arm of the ABC Network and subsequently moved to ESPN in 1992.

Source: Twitter

Cohn seems to be enjoying her career with ESPN as she continues to work with the network. She was suspended in 2017 for comments about ESPN’s leftist leanings, but her contract was renewed in July 2018.

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Suzy Kolber: $3 Million

Suzy Kolber was one of the pioneer anchors of ESPN2. However, her career has found her shifting her services between ESPN and Fox Sports. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Despite being an on-screen personality, Kolber has a quiet private life, so much so that many do not know her exact birth anniversary. She is prolific for her sideline coverage of American football.

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Andrea Kremer: $4 Million

Like Hannah Storm, 64-year-old Kremer also calls Thursday Night Football games for Amazon Prime Video. Kremer started her career as far back as 1982 when she worked with NFL Films. She was nominated for an Emmy Award around that phase.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Kremer is a regular contributor to the NFL Magazine and has had the privilege of interviewing various NFL and NBA stars.

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Samantha Ponder: $4.9 Million

Samantha Ponder is an American sports commentator who started her career via an internship with ABC. She had been eyeing work as a hostess at the ESPN Zone even before the ABC internship. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

She later joined Fox Sports Net and covered collegiate sports while still in college. After graduation, Ponder was eventually employed by ESPN in 2011. 

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Michelle Beadle: $5 Million

48-year-old Michelle Beadle sits atop the list of highest-paid female sports analysts in the US. She cut her career teeth by starting an internship with the San Antonio Spurs right after college. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Beadle had a robust addition to her journalistic skills as an ESPN commentator from 2009-2012. She joined NBC right after leaving ESPN, but would later return to ESPN in March 2014.

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