When Kaylee Hartung was growing up, her guy friends used to call her “Melissa” after her role model: sideline reporter Melissa Stark of ABC Sports.

Now the NBC Sports sideline reporter is poised to call Super Bowl LX with Stark this Sunday. It will be the first Super Bowl assignment for Hartung—and the second for Stark, who called her first Big Game 23 years ago.

The duo worked the frigid Bears-Rams NFC divisional playoff game on Jan. 18. The Big Game will mark a full circle moment for Hartung, noted Stark.

“When I first met Kaylee at the 2022 NFL Draft in Las Vegas, and she told me her friends called her Melissa when she was in high school, I was so honored!” says Stark. “She is a true journalist at heart and loves sports. I have watched as she relentlessly pursues her stories and always brings a fresh angle. I have loved sharing the sidelines with her and cannot wait to do it on the biggest stage.”

Front Office Sports went one-on-one with Hartung. Here are excerpts from the interview: 

Front Office Sports: Tell us about working your first Super Bowl.

Kaylee Hartung: It doesn’t seem real. Maybe it will hit me when I’m holding the mic at Levi’s Stadium—and the national anthem is being sung. It’s a great thrill.

FOS: Growing up, you idolized Melissa. Why? 

KH: It’s 100% true. … She was doing Monday Night Football. She was the standard. She was in the spotlight. I was in high school in Baton Rouge. The biggest LSU Tigers fan. My mom worked for the athletic foundation. I was lucky enough to grow up around that athletic department—and experience the success from [Shaquille O’Neal] playing basketball to our national championship in baseball. And, of course, there was LSU football. I was always just comfortable around the coaches and the athletes. 

My guy friends started calling me Melissa because I was the girl who could talk sports with the boys. She was, in their minds, the sideline reporter to aspire to be, as she was in my mind. I remember pulling up to the stadium in Detroit the first time I worked a divisional playoff for NBC a couple of years ago. I texted one of my best guy friends growing up and said, “I am in tears. Pulling up to my first playoff game with NBC—and I am sitting next to Melissa Stark. I never could have imagined this if you guys hadn’t put it in my head all those years ago. This would be a job that I would be doing.” It’s unbelievable. So doing a Super Bowl with her is a dream come true.

FOS: How about Melissa working her second Super Bowl 23 years after her first? 

KH: She’s a great model for women in the workplace. You can be at the top of your career. You can choose to walk away, and have a family, and prioritize that. Then you can come back and keep killing it. I admire her greatly for that.

FOS: Will you approach Super Sunday differently? 

KH: It sounds like a cliché you hear from a coach. In a lot of ways you have to treat every game the same. I’m really proud of the way I prepare for every game. I’m a preparation-breeds-confidence kind of gal. That system I have is the same as it is for any other game. Except the difference being I’m really focused on one team. Melissa and I splitting the sidelines changes the workflow for both of us in unique ways. It gives you more time to really dive into your roster. But then a game breaks out. As the game ends, we’re both interviewing players from the winning team. So you have to be ready for that as well. … You do what you do for both teams the best you can. Then you are ready for anything.

FOS: I’ve seen sideline reporters swallowed up by the crowd on the field. How do you make sure you reach your target? 

KH: Melissa and I will each have a security guard throughout the game. Sometimes women. Those security guards can be super helpful in those moments. We also each have a producer with us on the sidelines who’s helping. And the truth is these NFL teams, their PR staff, are fantastic to work with. They understand where we are trying to go. A lot of times we’ll have a meeting point planned. But of course live TV is live TV. Sometimes you have to elbow your way in to make sure you get that key player in time. But it is chaotic. I’m sure on the Super Bowl level it’s a whole other ball game.

FOS: When the game ends, will you go to the winning QB or coach?

KH: That’s a good question. I should ask Rob Hyland, our producer. Typically in the NFL, it’s always the star player. I would hope in a Super Bowl environment, that there would be a winning coach interview as well. But that’s a very good question to ask.

FOS: Networks like NBC, ESPN, and Fox are now using two sideline reporters per game, not one. What’s your take?

KH: The role of a sideline reporter to a broadcast can be invaluable. Everybody involved has to take what the game gives you. But if there’s an injury on the field, no one has better access at that moment than I do to tell the viewers what’s going on. We are the eyes and ears of the broadcast in a way the play-by-play and the analyst in the booth just can’t be. We are literally boots on the ground who provide a very unique insight to a broadcast. Sideline reporters have the best seat in the house, so to speak. Even though we don’t sit down for a moment of the game. We’re right there up close to all of the action. 

As for two sideline reporters, one of my worst fears as a sideline reporter, when I’m working a game alone, is I’m not where I need to be when there is an injury or an altercation at any moment the broadcast wants to spotlight. It’s a big field. Sometimes you get lucky; you’re in the right place at the right time. But a lot of times you can’t prepare to be there when that moment happens. … To add a second reporter to games of this magnitude is a really smart production decision. It allows both sidelines to be covered. You’re increasing your chances that your reporter has the best vantage point at any given moment. I love watching [Fox’s] Tom Rinaldi and Erin Andrews together. Or [ESPN’s] Laura Rutledge and Lisa Salters. I think there’s a wonderful way two reporters can play off each other.

FOS: What’s the key to asking a smart question at the moment of truth?

KH: First and foremost, it’s knowing your subject. It’s knowing how to put them in a position to share information that enriches the broadcast. And to actually say something that helps us all better understand the moment that they’re in. 

FOS: How do you respond to male critics who say female sideline reporters don’t add anything to telecasts?

KH: I am there to tell the stories. I am there to highlight the athletes playing this game. I didn’t play the game. And I don’t pretend that I did. But I think one of the greatest values I can bring to a game is to help fans understand why they should care about these athletes, why they should have respect for the dedication, hard work, and sacrifice these athletes put into being excellent at their craft. For me it’s about highlighting the human side of these sports we all love to watch. I take great pride in that. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Don’t blame Scott Hanson for the addition of hated commercials to NFL RedZone.

During an interview here with Ryan Glasspiegel and Baker Machado of Front Office Sports, the popular host put the blame for the ad creep squarely on NFL Network.

“First and foremost, they didn’t consult me. Your boy Uncle Scott was not responsible for commercials. Not even a little bit. Not consulted. The business folks handle the business side of things,” Hanson told FOS here on Radio Row. 

“I was told we were going with commercials,” Hanson said. “I said, ‘O.K., let’s handle this as best we can.’ What we ended up with, at the end of the season, was eight 15-second commercials that we spaced out about 45 minutes apart. So never two commercials back-to-back. And always in between plays.” 

Since the addictive whiparound show debuted in 2009, Hanson had opened with the slogan: “Seven hours of commercial-free football starts now.” But the good old days came to an end when the NFL added commercials during the 2025 season—sparking outrage among millions of viewers. Hanson was forced to alter his slogan to: “Seven hours of RedZone football starts now.”    

Give Hanson credit. He’s not trying to b.s. fans with the typical mealy-mouthed corporate excuses. The 54-year-old anchor understands fans are “upset” about ads potentially ruining the formerly commercial-free show. But he’s got some breaking news for viewers who still believe in the innocence of sports. 

“The NFL is a for-profit business,” Hanson noted. “I don’t believe that horse is going back into the barn.” 

To the relief of millions of fans, Hanson signed a long-term contract extension in May 2025 to continue hosting RedZone. As for how many ads become too many, he’ll leave that up to RedZone viewers and sales executives at NFLN to decide. 

“Honestly, I understand the frustration for those who do have frustration,” Hanson said. “But as I said, I hope that people still try RedZone—and see if we don’t deliver what we promised back in 2009. Yes, there will be some 15-second advertisements that will pop in. People need to make their own determinations. But I’m still going to be there—and I’m still going to give you everything I’ve got. I hope people say, ‘You know what? Even if I don’t like it, I’m still going to hang with RedZone.’”

SAN FRANCISCO — NBC Sports president Rick Cordella is overseeing a torrential stretch of sports on the network in the next few weeks: Super Bowl 60 in the Bay Area, the Winter Olympics in Italy, and the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. 

He joined Front Office Sports at our live set on Radio Row to discuss what type of staffing this parade requires, the status of Michael Jordan as a special contributor on NBA telecasts, and the decision to pick up Sunday Night Baseball.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Front Office Sports: You’re embarking on a huge year. Let’s start with the Olympics.

Rick Cordella: Yeah, the Friday opening ceremony is happening from Milan Cortina. Couldn’t be more excited about it. I think it might be one of the better winter opens we’ve had in recent memory, probably because Team USA is so strong this year. Obviously, Lindsey Vonn on Super Bowl Sunday, racing the downhill. She came out this morning, [and said] despite her ACL tear, she will give it a go. Give her a lot of credit for going through that pain and competing. But just overall, you have Ilia Malinin, who may be the greatest figure skater of all time, in terms of what he’s doing versus the competition, doing backflips on the ice. It’s gonna be exciting to see. 

You obviously also have USA Hockey, with Canada and their foreign policy coming into play, and maybe zhuzhing that up a little bit from what it normally is. And just overall, Team USA could go for the record number of medals that we saw back in Vancouver [in 2010]. So it’s going to be an exciting two weeks there in Milan.

FOS: We buried the lede. You also have the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game, and staffing up Sunday Night Baseball. You have five kids. How are you still standing? 

RC: I’ve got a great wife at home, first of all, taking care of the kids. So she, thankfully, is all good on that front. We had Sunday Night Basketball from Madison Square Garden just this past Sunday with Knicks-Lakers, and that was phenomenal in our first of the new deal of Sunday night, and having Lenny Kravitz come out. We’re really trying to treat that as if it’s Sunday Night Football, just in the basketball arena. And then we’ll take that forward to baseball when we have that later on this spring. But there’s a lot going on. 

I’m incredibly lucky to have just a phenomenal, phenomenal team of professionals that really are dedicated to their craft, that do what they do. And to some degree, these folks are sort of compartmentalized. So we have about 1,600 employees back in Stamford, Connecticut, working on the Olympics, about 1,000 in Italy, about 700-plus here in the Bay Area working on the Super Bowl. About 250 or so down in L.A. for NBA All-Star weekend.

FOS: What do you have planned for Michael Jordan?

RC: With him joining our team as a special contributor, we had a great interview with him, and we hope there’s more in the future.

FOS: Has he given any indication whether there will be more?

RC: We’ve had discussions with him—plenty of ongoing discussions. We’ll see what happens. 

FOS: How is this Mike Tirico’s first Super Bowl?

RC: Yeah, I mean, it surprises everyone, right? It seems like he’s been at the forefront of NFL play-calling for a long, long time. He came to us back in 2016. He had his first Olympic hosting job in 2018. Al Michaels was still calling the Super Bowl back when we had it in L.A. during 2021. So yeah, this is his first one through. He’s a seasoned vet, and we can’t wait to have Mike on the mic for Sunday afternoon. 

FOS: The answer to this obviously is going to depend on the price, but would NBC and Peacock be interested in picking up any of these four games that are coming to the market?

RC: I think we always talk to the NFL about opportunities. You saw that with the Peacock wild-card game a few years ago, and that came to market. I’m sure we’ll have conversations with the NFL about those four games and whatever else that may be an opportunity. 

FOS: What was attractive to you about picking up this Sunday baseball package? 

RC: Certainly having 50 weeks a year of big-time sports at NBC. It’s a very easy-to-understand concept. Hopefully it’s a habit for people as they get ready for their workweek and they’re leaning back on their couch and five days ahead, they say, ‘What’s on today?’ And they know that NBC is gonna have three of the biggest professional American sports leagues with the best matchups, the best players, the best storylines, the fantastic production—and that’s just gonna be a constant. So hopefully that gets into daily habit. Look back at TV history, [remember] “Must-See TV” on Thursdays, right? HBO on Sundays. And so it’s a little bit of that: can we sort of own to a certain degree a day of the week? And when Sunday Night Baseball came available, it became a great opportunity for us.