Shannon Spake is joining the Charlotte Hornets broadcast team on Bally Sports Southeast throughout the season as a host and sideline reporter. Spake will make a return to Charlotte, N.C. where she previously worked at WCCB-TV and at Carolina Sports and Entertainment Television. FOX Sports reportedly allowed her to exit the company this past summer, after which she joined NASCAR Studios to host NASCAR Inside the Playoffs distributed to TNT Sports and truTV, along with the NASCAR Daily podcast. Spake is in the midst of taking part within both ventures and will now add her work with the Hornets to the responsibilities that she has.
Spake formerly worked at Speed Channel and ESPN where she contributed across its coverage of professional sports. Over parts of the last nine years, she worked as a NASCAR studio host and NFL reporter for FOX Sports. As she makes the move to join the Hornets broadcast team, she is expected to work alongside play-by-play announcer Eric Collins and analyst Dell Curry. The Hornets open their 2024-25 season at Spectrum Center against the New York Knicks on Sunday, Oct. 6 and will look to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
Ashley ShahAhmadi, who had been the sideline reporter for the team over the last six seasons, is departing the broadcasts as she focuses on new ventures within her career. Ahead of the season, ShahAhmadi became a field reporter for Atlanta Braves broadcast on Bally Sports South, and she also works as a sideline reporter for ESPN college football broadcasts as well. ShahAhmadi also works on NBA game broadcasts for TNT Sports and NBA TV, balancing regional and national events throughout last season. Preceding ShahAhmadi in the role was Stephanie Ready, who currently works within games for NBA on TNT broadcasts.
The Hornets are one of 11 teams that are slated to be televised by Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks within the Diamond Sports Group oeuvre. The Sinclair subsidiary has been in Ch. 11 bankruptcy for over a year; however, it is in the process of trying to finalize its restructuring support agreement through a new naming rights agreement and raising additional capital. Amazon is reportedly in “late-stage talks” to add Diamond Sports Group direct-to-consumer apps to Prime. This ostensibly represents a deviation from its original plan after the company had previously agreed to provide Diamond with $115 million in financing contingent on the regional sports network holding entity to be able to exit Ch. 11 bankruptcy.
