ESPN is bringing back at least one piece of its Sunday NFL Countdown pregame show.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports in his weekly “Sports Clicker” newsletter (you can subscribe here) that Countdown host Samantha Ponder has been re-signed to a three-year contract. The deal, reportedly for a total of just over $3 million, will also include work beyond the Sunday pregame show, such as contributing to NFL Draft coverage.
In February, Marchand reported that analysts Randy Moss and Matt Hasselback were also facing expired contracts along with Ponder. (He also mentions Steve Young as up for renewal in his latest report.) This appeared to be an opportunity for ESPN to overhaul Sunday NFL Countdown, especially as weekday show NFL Live gets more attention and viewer engagement on social media.
But the network apparently sought to renew everyone’s contract and keep the band together. Now, ESPN is a quarter of the way there. (NFL Live and college football game analyst Dan Orlovsky is also facing a contract renewal.)
According to Marchand, negotiations between ESPN and Ponder were bumpy at times, which is surely to be expected. One of the issues may have been Ponder’s workload, which has been limited to Sundays since she took over hosting Countdown. But in looking at ESPN currently, many hosts and anchors are working across network programming.
As mentioned, Ponder will contribute to NFL Draft coverage, but as ESPN’s NFL footprint expands, perhaps she’ll be doing more in the months and years to come. Having a more prominent role in NFL coverage could be a factor in who hosts ABC/ESPN’s Super Bowl broadcast in 2027. Ponder, Suzy Kolber, and Laura Rutledge could be vying for that role. Other names Marchand mentions are Steve Levy, Scott Van Pelt, and Mike Greenberg.
If you start seeing more of Ponder across ESPN’s NFL programming, that could be one reason why. Although a Super Bowl role would have to be part of her next contract.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
