In an effort to bolster its coverage for Super Bowl 60 at Levi's Stadium, NBC won't just have Melissa Stark on the sideline providing in-game updates.
Stark, 52, has been the lead sideline reporter for NBC's "Sunday Night Football" since the 2022 season. When she's not on the gridiron covering the NFL, she helps NBC with its coverage of the Olympics. In fact, she was a reporter for the swimming events at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
In January, NBC confirmed that Kaylee Hartung will serve as the second sideline reporter for the Super Bowl. She's been the sideline reporter for Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” coverage for the past four seasons.
With the biggest game of the NFL season finally here, Stark is more than willing to share the spotlight with Hartung.
"When I first met Kaylee at the 2022 NFL Draft in Las Vegas, and she told me her friends called her Melissa when she was in high school, I was so honored. She is a true journalist at heart and loves sports," Stark said, via Front Office Sports. "I have watched as she relentlessly pursues her stories and always brings a fresh angle. I have loved sharing the sidelines with her and cannot wait to do it on the biggest stage
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Full circle moment for Hartung.
During an interview with Front Office Sports, Hartung revealed that she idolized Stark.
"She was doing Monday Night Football. She was the standard. She was in the spotlight. I was in high school in Baton Rouge. The biggest LSU Tigers fan. My mom worked for the athletic foundation. I was lucky enough to grow up around that athletic department—and experience the success from [Shaquille O’Neal] playing basketball to our national championship in baseball. And, of course, there was LSU football. I was always just comfortable around the coaches and the athletes," Hartung said. "My guy friends started calling me Melissa because I was the girl who could talk sports with the boys. She was, in their minds, the sideline reporter to aspire to be, as she was in my mind."
Now, Hartung has the chance to team up with her idol for Super Bowl 60. We have no doubt they're going to do a great job covering the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.