As the number of prominent female reporters continues to grow across the NFL, Prime Video’s Kaylee Hartung gushed about the supportive community they have created with one another.
“It’s so cool,” Hartung, 39, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of Prime Video’s first-ever playoff game broadcast between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, January 11. “It’s the most special group of women I’ve ever gotten to consider myself part of. I feel so lucky.”
Hartung is joined on the sidelines for Prime Video’s NFL coverage by Taylor Rooks, with Charissa Thompson anchoring the network’s coverage during pregame, postgame and halftime.
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“It’s so genuine among us,” Hartung explained. “Charissa, Taylor and I all have very different skill sets. We have very different personalities. I think we’re able to work together and support each other in a way that is so special. There’s no competition. We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders.”
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Across the networks, other female reporters in places of prominence include Fox Sports’ Erin Andrews and Pam Oliver and CBS’ Tracy Wolfson and Kay Adams, who anchored Netflix’s inaugural Christmas Day coverage.
“We all just really get along and like each other,” Hartung told Us. “Charissa and I were friends before we were ever on Thursday Night Football together. I had never met Taylor before the first time everyone got together. But it was instant for all of us.”
Hartung, who also works as a contributor on NBC’s Today show, counts Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Melissa Stark as another encouraging colleague. When the duo worked together during the NFL Divisional Round playoff game between the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit’s Ford Field in January 2024, Hartung had a full circle moment of gratitude.
“We were sitting in the shuttle [on the way to the stadium] and I teared up in the cheesiest, silliest, most completely raw, emotional way,” Hartung recalled. “15-year-old me never could have imagined this. Melissa has been so supportive of me and I just appreciate that I can call her a friend. We’ll compare notes if I’ve got a team before her or if she’s got one before me.”
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Hartung also shouted out NBC’s Maria Taylor and ESPN’s Laura Rutledge, with whom she helped launch the SEC Network in 2014.
“I feel so lucky that our friendships have all endured,” she said. “I hope that we set an example for women younger than us. It’s such a competitive environment and there are only so many opportunities. But there is enough to go around.”
Hartung added, “At the end of the day, one of the things we all have in common is that we are all nice, welcoming, good people who are excited for each other’s successes and excited to cheer each other on.”
Hartung will be on the sideline for Prime Video’s first-ever playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, which streams live on Saturday, January 11, at 7:30 pm ET.
Us Weekly
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