Kaylee Hartung was enjoying her job as a sideline reporter for ESPN, but five years ago, with a desire to grow as a reporter, she left to join CNN as a news reporter and two years later moved on to an opportunity with ABC News.
She was no longer reporting on what she was seeing and hearing on the sidelines or talking with players and coaches after big wins. It’s not that sports isn’t real life, but Hartung was now covering events going on in the world that were truly all about life and death.
“I just spent five years in a lot of scenarios showing up on the worst days of people’s lives and that’s the job in news so often,” said Hartung. “I was in Parkland, Florida in the hours after that mass shooting. I’ve been at more natural disasters than I can count from hurricanes to wildfires where people have lost everything, not just their homes but loved ones as well.”
“It’s a job I didn’t take lightly and a job that I have so much respect for. But now, I’m just so thrilled to get back to celebrating the best days in people’s lives.”
Hartung is back in the sports world as the sideline reporter for Amazon Prime Video’s coverage of Thursday Night Football which kicks off this Thursday when the Chiefs host the Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium (8:15 PM Eastern). Kaylee is part of a crew that includes legendary NFL play-by-play voice Al Michaels and analyst Kirk Herbstreit who is ESPN’s top college football analyst.
She’s been on football sidelines many times before, but now Hartung is ecstatic to be part of an NFL national broadcast team.
“It hasn’t sunk in,” said Hartung. “I think when the ball gets kicked off at Arrowhead (Stadium), it will all become very real. When you talk about the people involved and the opportunity that this is, I just feel so lucky to be part of the team.”
Amazon and the NFL reached agreement on an 11-year, $11 billion deal for the first ever all-digital package in league history. This season, Amazon will air 15 games from week two until week 16. At the end of the day, they are going to be football telecasts, but with a streaming deal comes new opportunities to keep the viewers interested and engaged.
Kind of like an NFL telecast 2.0 with a lot of the old mixed with a little bit of new including being able to keep an eye on other aspects of the game including fantasy football.
“It’s an incredibly exciting thing to be a part of…to help build something new,” said Hartung. “Everyone involved with this feels that way. That excitement is very real from Al and Kirk to everyone on the crew. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to broadcasting a football game. What I think we’re going to do on the whole is change the expectations of NFL fans for the entire viewing experience.”
The 36-year-old Hartung was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and earned a degree in journalism and politics from Washington and Lee University in 2007. She began her broadcasting career with CBS News as an assistant to legendary newsman Bob Schieffer and had her first taste of reporting from the sidelines in 2010 for CBS College Sports.
“It’s one of those jobs where until you do it, somebody has to give you a chance to let you do it,” said Hartung. “Until you do it, you don’t know how good you’re going to be at it and you don’t know how to work out the kinks.”
It was prior to that first sideline opportunity when producer Steve Scheer gave Kaylee some valuable advice and that was to study then NBC Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya as much as possible.
And that’s what she has done.
Once Kaylee secured the TNF job with Prime Video, she asked producer Fred Gaudelli for as much tape of Tafoya as possible.
“I’ve watched her Emmy reel submissions from her last five seasons,” said Hartung. “I’ve watched her entire season compilation of every report she did from the past couple of seasons. That’s how highly I think of her.”
Another veteran sideline reporter that Hartung has been inspired by is Melissa Stark who has replaced Tafoya this season on Sunday Night Football. Stark was the sideline reporter for ABC’s Monday Night Football for three seasons but left in 2003 to join NBC News and Sports. After some time at NFL Network, she has returned to NBC and is once again on the sidelines for NFL games.
And now Hartung is set to work the same people that Stark has worked with.
“I’m so glad she’s back,” said Hartung. “She was the first woman who made me think that I wanted to do and that was when I was in high school. It wasn’t until this year that I met her and we were texting before and after the (49ers/Texans pre-season) game. I think the world of her and now to get to work with guys on her original crew is not lost on me.”
The objectives, skillsets, and techniques can vary from sideline reporter to sideline reporter and that always leads to a burning question…what is the role of the sideline reporter?
As far as Hartung is concerned, it’s all about catering to the viewer and giving them the best possible information.
“The challenge that I try to give myself with every game is that no matter how hard I prepare, I will never know as much about these teams as their most tried and true fans,” said Hartung. “My task on the sidelines is to ensure that from my vantage point, that I can tell them something they didn’t know or something that interests them…to make sure that I’m enhancing that viewing experience.”
Kaylee Hartung is no stranger to the big moment. After five years of covering some of the biggest news stories for CNN and ABC, she’s back where she wants to be on the sidelines for football games, but this time it’s the NFL.
For many, it could be an “oh wow” moment, but for Hartung it will be soaking in a marquee moment for her and something she has been building towards for a long time.
“I’m worried that my head is going to explode at Arrowhead Stadium before the ball even gets kicked off,” said Hartung. “I’m sure there will be a lot of emotions that come along with that. I learned how to be on TV in college football stadiums across the country. I think I’m better at my job and conveying the motion when there are 60,000 screaming lunatics around me.”
And they’ll certainly be screaming in Kansas City on Thursday night.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
