Salary: $1.5 million per year
Scott Van Pelt, one of the nation’s favorite sportscasters on ESPN’s SportsCenter, has had a long career of almost 30 years in various broadcasting jobs. Van Pelt began his sportscasting career at WTTG-TV, then moved to work at the Golf Channel and hosted some of the network’s most popular shows between 1995 to 2000. His twitter profile has over 2 million followers and he has posted over 52,500 tweets during its lifetime.
Van Pelt has also appeared in a few films lately, most notably in Creed 2 as himself. He was originally born in Brookeville, Maryland, and studied radio, television, and film at the University of Maryland. He also owned his own show for a short time, called the “Scott Van Pelt Show”. However, ultimately he had to leave the show in 2009 to focus on his work with ESPN and the show’s name was changed to SVP & Rosillo.
Shannon Sharpe - ESPN
Salary: $5 million per year
With over a million Instagram followers and 3 Super Bowl championships, the buff Shannon Sharpe could easily replace his current TV career with one in modeling. The retired NFL wide-receiver played for the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens and went on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Sharpe is another case of a retired NFL player leveraging his exposure beyond TV and building a massive social media following. He definitely knows how to play to the crowd and frequently uploads everything from funny personal videos to inspirational messages.
Sharpe retired in his prime while holding various NFL records, such as the most receptions, most receiving yards, and most receiving touchdowns. He was also the first-ever NFL player to collect over 10,000 receiving yards. His post-playing life has been fairly drama-free, except a controversy from 2010 when an alleged ex-girlfriend filed a restraining order against him. The allegations were investigated and were quickly dismissed as bogus.
Suzy Kolber - ESPN
Salary: $3 million per year
Suzy Kolber originally joined ESPN in 1993 and has been a mainstay there for the last 20+ years. Born in Philadelphia, the popular sideline reporter has a Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunications and began her career with CBS Sports as a videotape coordinator. From there Kolber began taking freelance assignments as a reporter and producer for various media outlets, until securing a position with ESPN. She has since covered many different assignments with the network, from the NFL, to bicycle stunt events and even tennis. Her most popular gig so far is as the sideline reporter for ESPN's Monday Night Football with Michele Tafoya.
Kolber received nationwide attention during an incident that happened while she was covering a 2003 New York Jets game. During a mid-field interview with former Jets quarterback Joe Namath, the recognized retired player stated twice on live television that he wanted to kiss her. Kolber reacted in the best possible manner by responding, "Thanks, Joe. I'll take that as a huge compliment." Since then, her career has been mostly free of drama and controversy.
Tom Dungy - NBC
Salary: $10 million per year
Anthony Dungy made history as head coach when his team, the Colts, beat the Chicago Bears and won the Super Bowl in 2006. Why did he make history? Because he was the first-ever black head coach to win the Super Bowl! Soon after, Dungy announced his retirement as coach of the Colts and went on to work as an analyst on NBC's Football Night in America. Dungy's career started in 1977 when he began playing as a defensive reserve for the Steelers. The NFL player and coach won both a Super Bowl ring from his time as a player and a ring as head coach. In 2016, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Dungy was also very much interested in national communities - he helped Geroge W. Bush as a member of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, as-well-as Obama with similar topics.
Dungy is deeply religious and even considered leaving his football career to work as a prison minister. In 2007 he wrote a memoir named "Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life" which became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller in the nonfiction section. Dungy claimed to have gotten more satisfaction from the success of the book than his Super Bowl wins, and has since written numerous books on the subject of improving your life and finding strength and significance.
Booger McFarland - ESPN
Salary: $7.9 million per year
Anthony Darelle McFarland, also known as "Booger", is a former American football defensive tackle with two Super Bowl rings, and also a football analyst since joining the SEC Network in 2014. In case you're wondering where the name "Booger" came from, McFarland claims he was very wild as a kid and used to get himself into a lot of trouble, he was called "Booger" as a young kid and the nickname seems to have stuck around since then.
His career highlights are obviously winning 2 Super Bowl championships, one in 2002 when playing with the Buccaneers and one in 2006 with the Colts. The successful football player was forced to retire from the sport after suffering a career-ending knee injury while training for the next Super Bowl. He was recently promoted to color analyst and it seems his broadcasting career is still just at its infancy.