Work ethic and persistence are at the center of who Kay Adams is as a broadcaster, and she has demonstrated both qualities from the beginning of her career in sports media. Always looking for a new challenge, Adams enters each day hosting her show, Up & Adams on FanDuel TV, focused on bringing fans engaging and entertaining content while improving as a personality. In moving away from NFL Network, she bet on herself to learn how to talk about sports on a network belonging to a sportsbook.
FanDuel is the sports betting leader in the U.S. market, garnering almost 46% of the total online market share, according to recent data from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Consulting and Market Research. Entering the role, Adams had minimal knowledge about the specifics of the growing sector and is learning as she goes. In the end, she made the choice to join FanDuel TV because of the company’s sterling reputation and the work of Amy Howe, its chief executive officer.
“It was becoming a bigger part of our content and a bigger part of our shows; our sponsorship; how we pay the bills, and it’s sort of where the industry’s going,” Adams said. “Everybody who’s going to be in those realms wants content because those people wanted real estate on the NFL slate that I was on, even on Good Morning Football within those three hours.”
Adams had not centered her conversations about sports around betting, but had familiarity on how to interact with football fans. When Adams attended college at the University of Missouri, she initially enrolled in a program centered on traditional journalism and reporting; however, she ended up gravitating towards editorializing and providing her opinion about sports. During those years, Adams took a job at a comedy club and worked to gain the opportunity to go on stage just so she could emcee and introduce the next act.
At the start of her freshman year in college, Adams discovered that her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She frequently made the trip from Columbia, Mo. to Chicago, Ill. so she could spend time with her family and offer her support.
Adams is the daughter of two Polish immigrants who assimilated to life in the United States and did everything they could to make ends meet. Her father worked at the same screw factory in Melrose Park, Ill. for 43 years, while her mother also performed factory work and eventually cleaned houses and hotel rooms. Sports consumption was limited in their household, occasionally watching football but never attending any games in person.
“[They] did anything that they could, all the overtime hours just to make ends meet,” Adams said. “I think I just looked at them and got my work ethic from them to just not say ‘No,’ even if it was hard.”
Adams began working as a bartender at Willie’s Pub and Pool Bar, an established institution within Columbia. As time went on, she became familiar with some of the regular customers and would debate sports with them throughout her shift. Adams worked more than she attended class and applied for many internships, ultimately being brought on at The CW Network on the street team to hand out fliers about upcoming shows.
While she was there, Adams became friendly with her college classmate Carissa Culiner, who told her that she was being promoted at Clear 99, a country music radio station owned by Zimmer Radio Group. Eager for any potential opportunities, Adams applied to take over the midnight to 6 a.m. slot with minimal knowledge of the genre. While she exaggerated her knowledge of the category during the interview, she studied so she would be prepared to take the air.
“I think I got a lot of confidence learning on the fly, and I’ve always been really good at chaos; at sort of live TV, live bullets [and] live action,” Adams said. “Nothing is more exciting to me, and there’s nothing that I think in thrive in more.”
As people within the building discerned Adams’ passion for sports, she was invited to appear on sister station KTGR, the local ESPN Radio affiliate. Soon thereafter, Adams found out that one of her customers at the bar worked at the same radio station as her, but was leaving to join SiriusXM. In their conversation, the customer implored her to appear on the outlet as a news anchor, reading social media posts from fans and talking about fantasy baseball. There was no hesitation on Adams’ part, especially since she had not outlined a backup plan should she not succeed in sports media.
Taking that swing for the fences landed Adams as one of the first members of the new fantasy sports channel at SiriusXM, appearing on The Fantasy Drive with Kyle Elfrink and Ray Flowers. With each repetition, she gradually became more confident.
Around that time, she started canvassing media outlets for job openings, one of which was KSDK-TV in St. Louis, Mo. The network had a partnership with lifestyle website Metromix, which eventually allowed her to make content. Adams vividly remembers her boyfriend at the time following her at restaurants making pieces and trying to earn space on the website. What she really coveted was the St. Louis Cardinals’ in-stadium hosting job and had the tenacity to continue pressing those within the organization for an opportunity.
“I really wanted to be on camera [and] wanted to be talking to the 80,000 people – that was my goal,” Adams said. “I just sort of relentlessly forced my vision onto people and got it.”
Adams offered to work the job for free while bartending at Nick’s Pub until 5 a.m. and driving to Columbia on weekends to host her country music show. In her first season with the team, the Cardinals ended up winning the World Series in a dramatic seven-game series against the Texas Rangers, resulting in a lengthy fall schedule.
Once baseball entered its offseason, she worked for the St. Louis Rams as a stage manager, coordinating elements of the game presentation at the Edward Jones Dome. When the teams were not playing, she was managing a pizza shop in the area and sought to execute all of her roles to perfection with little to no sleep.
As Adams continued to improve, she began to be considered for other hosting roles and ultimately landed with NBC Sports Network to lead Fantasy Football Live. Additionally, she hosted Fantasy Zone with DIRECTV on the NFL RedZone Channel and a bi-weekly gambling fantasy show with Rotoworld on NBC Sports Radio. Outside of sports media, Adams worked as a special correspondent for pop culture programs including Extra and Entertainment Tonight.
After years of demonstrating an indefatigable willingness to succeed, Adams was hired by NFL Media to host a new morning show, Good Morning Football, on NFL Network. The cast of the show did not meet each other until 48 hours before their first episode.
“We were, ‘Let’s come in – rage against the sports media machine a little bit,’” Adams described. “It was something that we built from, in our opinion, nothing. Now granted, super supportive people [at the] NFL – nice to have 32 billionaires being supportive of you – but you kind of had to win them over too.”
Adams remained with Good Morning Football through its first six years on the air. At the same time, she continued working in the entertainment space as the host of The TV Show! through People Magazine alongside Lawrence K. Jackson, while also hosting virtual games on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire app. Once her contract with NFL Media was nearing its expiration, Adams decided that she wanted to move in a different direction.
“I’m not afraid to take a risk,” Adams said. “I’m not afraid to start something new; in fact, to me, it’s very rewarding to start something and have it grow.”
Just where that opportunity would be was unbeknownst to her, but she was aware that there was interest from FanDuel. Adams had previously worked with the sports betting company and heard of their plans to launch a full TV lineup. After hearing the vision of Amy Howe, the company’s chief executive officer, she inked a deal and was announced as a headliner of FanDuel TV – which also included content from Pat McAfee and Bill Simmons.
“I take a lot of responsibility in being the person who’s on the forefront of that,” Adams said. “It’s like building an airplane as you fly; that’s sort of what we’re doing and so I’ve embraced it. The biggest challenge is you sort of feel like you’re the first one to a party and you’re early and you’re like, ‘They’re still setting up the music.’”
Adams brings legitimate enthusiasm and energy to the show each day. She wants her hour on the network to be worthwhile for viewers. The spotlight, however, is always placed on the guests who join the show, with Adams functioning as both a catalyst for conversation and ebullient participant.
Throughout the 2023 National Football League regular season, Adams will welcome several active and former players to the show as weekly guests. Some of the stars set to join her include San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel, free agent wide receiver Jarvis Landry, former safety Darius Butler and four-time Super Bowl champion tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Out of all the people announced as part of the new lineup though, Adams feels a certain enigma around New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Even though he plays in the largest media market in the country, the fourth-year professional comes off as a private, reserved individual to her.
“I think he’s a huge challenge for me because he doesn’t like to say a lot,” Adams explained, “but there’s this thing about scarcity that was really important to me…. To just sort of anticipate him week in, week out will be so, so fun, and that adds tremendous value because I think I am so naturally curious about these players and these pieces for the NFL.”
Everything Adams does as a host is predicated on authenticity. While there is planning and research conducted before each new episode, she embraces a degree of entropy and has the proficiency and wherewithal to adapt in real time.
“The fourth wall is broken; the jig is up,” Adams said. “It’s 2023; we all have to roll on. I’ve almost shot my eye out with a bottle of champagne, [and] we drink on Fridays on my show at 8 in the morning here in LA, so it is definitely a fun look at sports.”
Adams’ show predominantly focuses on the NFL, but has implemented coverage of the National Basketball Association as well with the presence of FanDuel partner and NBA insider Shams Charania. There are also plenty of conversations about other sports too, including golf and horse racing.
“Being in a place where it’s not just the NFL that I’m talking about has been really refreshing and something that I’m really hoping to advance this season,” Adams said. “The balance is a gift; the content is a gift.”
Sports betting is legal in more than 30 states across the country, albeit in different capacities, but the content itself extends beyond those municipalities and imbues fans to take a vested interest in various outcomes. ESPN reached a deal to launch its own sportsbook in partnership with PENN Entertainment later in the fall, equipping its vast content portfolio to market the product. The parties have the goal of reaching at least 20% market share of total revenue by 2027 as part of the 10-year agreement.
“The ESPN-PENN deal sort of reinforces that I’m on the right path with Up & Adams, and I feel really good about where that sits,” Adams said. “It’s about growing that show. I’m an executive producer of that show, which is amazing. It’s a really nice partnership with FanDuel where the sky’s the limit.
Fans are able to watch Up & Adams on FanDuel TV through a linear provider or over-the-top (OTT) platform, and can also listen as a podcast across multiple platforms. The show recently started airing live on YouTube as well, providing Adams an open line of communication with viewers wherein she continuously exhibits her congenial personality. There are more distribution partnerships to be announced in the future, and Adams is excited about the possibilities to make the program even more accessible to consumers.
Adams considers herself fortunate to have the program renewed for a second season within a volatile content ecosystem where there is a plethora of turnover. Most importantly though, she has an inherent gratitude for FanDuel TV and the fact that she has an outlet on which to broadcast.
“I don’t even know what the goal would be with the show other than it being a place where I can express myself,” Adams said. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be so much fun.”
While she enjoys hosting her daily program from the studio, Adams is looking to attend more games and interact with the teams in-person. It was an impetus for her seven-team training camp tour throughout August, during which she interviewed Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“Some of these guys and these vibes from these teams you can sort of learn and pick up by just being there a couple of minutes,” Adams said. “It’s why the value of beat reporters is so big because they’re in there every day. Another big thing that we’re trying to do more of, and we did a lot last year, is pulling the people that are there; pulling in the best of the beats to come and give us their glimpses.”
As the turn pages on a new season of Up & Adams, she is satisfied with the state of the overall state of the program and is focused on helping it grow. Even though Adams has been on many other networks, the show is hardly derivative and instead wholly organic in the methods by which it propounds talking points and produces content. For Adams herself, she has had conversations about future endeavors and has a goal of appearing on a prime-time live game broadcast.
Adams references an expression from Hockey Hall of Fame forward and current NHL on TNT studio analyst Wayne Gretzky to describe her mindset: “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” As a result, she does not rule out the potential of hosting an alternate game presentation in the future and is always willing to experiment to stay ahead of the curve.
“Until I get it, my goal is going to be the big-kid table,” Adams said. “I would like the live game [and] love the energy of being live…. For me to be able to have the opportunity on the grand stage of the broadcast for the game, that would be my goal; the pregame or something like that. That has evaded me, but it just sort of makes sense.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
