Currently linked with the NFL Network Melissa Stark is a popular sports host and sports news commentator who once worked for NBC starting in 2003. Previously, Stark had also been working with a correspondent for the Today show on NBC. Stark is primarily known for covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics for MSNBC (back when she was working with NBC). In this article, we will take a look at her personal life, her career, and other interesting things about Melissa Stark!
Melissa Stark: Where Is She Now In 2022? Check Out Her Illustrious Career Here!
Her 4 children keep her busy:
She married her husband Mike Lilley in 2001 after dating for about 2 years. They met through her mutual friend in July 1999 and got engaged after 11 months.
The couple has four children. They have two sons named Michael Lilley Jr. and Jackson Lilley and a set of twin daughters. She lives a happy life with her husband Mike and her children at her home in Sea Bright, New Jersey.
With four young children at home and having worked at ABC, NBC News’ “Today” and MSNBC, in 2008, Stark finally decided to cut back on her television duties and focus on family. In 2011, she had the opportunity to take on new roles at NFL Network and asked Gaudelli for her advice on the move. That’s when Gaudelli called her with the question: Why not join NBC Sports as a sideline reporter for “Sunday Night Football”?
One phone call later, she was booked for Sunday Night Football:
When she quit to care for four children, she says, “I didn’t know if I would ever come back.”
However, Melissa Stark clearly knows the value of staying in touch with Gaudelli after her temporary retirement as it got her a sideline reporter job for SNF! Stark will succeed Michele Tafoya in a pivotal role on one of television’s most-watched shows, and in doing so, create a unique professional circle that many don’t understand.
“I was a little stunned” when the offer came through, says Stark, whose hire had been previously reported by The New York Post but not confirmed by NBC Sports until mid 2022.
Stark’s jump to NBC Sports is the latest in a parade of big sportscaster changes taking place as media companies work to bring larger audiences to football broadcasts, which represent some of the biggest prized properties and most expensive television. All television networks with rights to the NFL recently agreed to substantial increases in the licensing fees they will pay to the National Football League under a new 11-year-pact that keeps most professional football broadcasts under the purview of the large traditional television stations. ESPN recently raided Fox Sports for its long-standing team of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck.
Meanwhile, NBC filled the void on “Sunday Night Football” by moving Mike Tirico into the booth with Cris Collinsworth.
What’s in Melissa Stark’s future?
In just one sentence: “’Sunday Night Football’ is destination viewing and we’re thrilled to have Melissa, Mike, and Cris, calling the shots and commenting on the stories football fans have come to expect from the #1 show on primetime television,” says Pete Bevacqua, president of NBC Sports.
Essentially, Stark’s arrival means that two of “SNFs” highlights will be different when the show launches a new season on Thursday, August 4 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, where the trio will work on their first game together. On Thursday, September 8, Tirico, Collinsworth and Stark will open the fall season by covering the NFL kickoff game on NBC and Peacock. Some building blocks are already in place. Tirico and Collinsworth have called 21 games together in recent seasons.
What does Melissa Stark think of all this?
According to Stark’s interview with Variety, she says the motto of ‘Sunday Night Football’ is’ To whom much is given, much is expected,’” says Stark. The sports industry’s emphasis on growth “raises the stakes even further,” she added during this interview, noting that the thoughts come from someone who “didn’t think ‘Monday Night Football’ could get much bigger at the time.
According to Stark’s interview, Sunday night games have “a lot more resources, a lot more cameras” than broadcasts when she had a similar job some two decades ago.
Stark will also continue to work for the NFL Network, a job that allows her to exercise other muscles. She has anchoring duties on that outlet’s newsmagazine, “NFL 360,” where stories can run anywhere from eight to 12 minutes.
Stark says she would love being able to tell the 25-second stories on live TV between plays on ‘Sunday Night Football,’ and being able to tell these quality, in-depth, Emmy Award-winning stories at the same time. She also commented that it is “definitely the best of both worlds.”
And although she once had four children to care for at a very young age, these days she could take them with her to the games. All four, she says, are grown up now and in high school.
Excited, Mel Stark hopes to meet up with Tirico and Collinsworth well before Sunday night games start. The trio should appear on the NBCUniversal kickoff studying the teams.
“Some people might think we just show up to games. We really go in and start on Thursday nights and then come home on Monday mornings. You really become like a family along the way.”
That dynamic, Stark says, is what helped her stay in touch with Rob Hyland, coordinating producer of “Sunday Night Football” and, of course, Gaudelli. “It helped me understand that there was a way to solve everything.”
What does Melissa Stark think of her career history?
Stark may be tackling a job she’s done before, but she has a hard-earned perspective. “I wish I knew then what I know now. I was so young and a female in a man’s world,” she says. “Back then, there were very few women.”
She wishes Madden, the legendary coach and broadcaster who passed away late last year, had seen her get the job at NBC. “He was one of my biggest supporters. He was everything: a co-worker, a mentor. He believed in me, and that was amazing for me as a 26-year-old female in this business,” she says.
When Melissa graduated from college, she found an internship opportunity at WMAR-TV, her job basically being simple assignments. Subsequently, Stark moved to the CBS network, landing an intern role for a segment called Evening News with Dan Rather in 1993.
Beginning in 1994, the Marylander took on more challenges in conducting research, writing scripts, and organizing the information available to health news correspondent Dr. Bob Arnot. Melissa Stark was then in the NFL Draft between 1994 and 1995.
Melissa served as a producer and reporter for Coach’s TV Show in the Sports Marketing division at the University of Virginia. Subsequently, the following year, Stark became an employee of ESPN. With an ESPN feature, the Baltimorean has traveled to many states within the US, covering high school and college sports for a weekly segment called Scholastic Sports America. Eventually, more opportunities arose that were mostly involved in-studio shows. To illustrate, for seven straight years since nineteen ninety-six, Melissa was a part of NFL Sunday Countdown and Out of the Lines, the latter being an EMMY winning show. Stark was a minor reporter for the World Series, NBA Finals, Final Four, and Stanley Cup Finals. In addition, the sports announcer took responsibility for coverage of MLB, golf, NHL, and NCAA Basketball for ESPN.
Even though Melissa worked for various shows under the ESPN banner, in mid-2000 she joined ABC Sports and was selected to lead the sideline report for Monday Night Football for three years.
Likewise, Stark has reported on coverage of Super Bowl XXXVII held in San Diego and has been on the cover of figure skating, golf tournaments and the NFL Pro Bowl.
Other Melissa Stark Facts:
Melissa Stark was born in Baltimore and her dad is famous:
Stark is the daughter of Walter Stark, a renowned eye surgeon by profession. Her zodiac sign is Scorpio and we know this because Melissa Stark was born on November 11, 1973, in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States of America making her an American by nationality.
Melissa Stark graduated from the University of Virginia:
The veteran sportscaster has a degree in Foreign Affairs and Spanish from the University of Virginia (the same university where she was part of a sorority). Stark was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta. A fun event unfolded in her life when Melissa was detained in Mexico while trying to cover NFL games there. A few years later, she remembered the incident and laughed at her lack of communication with Mexican authorities, as Stark studied Spanish as a minor in college.
Melissa Stark height and body measurements:
At the moment, the blonde sportscaster is 48 years old and is still active in the broadcast. Like many other former journalists, like; Bonnie Bernstein, Jamie Little, Suzy Kolber, etc Stark is already punched in around 24 or so years of service. Likewise, the Marylander is small, standing at 5’4″ (1.64 m) and weighs approximately 52 kg (115 lbs).
Few talk about it, but Melissa is an attractive journalist who could easily pass for a model, by the way. Mel Stark’s body measurements include 34 inches from the chest, 26 inches from the waist, and 35 inches from the hips. Her measurements indicate a slender body frame and an enthusiasm for fitness.
Melissa Stark has been very successful since an early age:
Melissa Stark served as a sideline reporter for “Monday Night Football” from 2000 to 2002, when she was just 26 years old and the game, then one of the biggest weekly events on television, was still airing on ABC.
Following this, the veteran sportscaster worked with everyone from legendary television executive Don Ohlmeyer to “MNF” announcers like John Madden and Dennis Miller, and Fred Gaudelli, the producer who would go on to work for NBC Sports and oversee “then all coverage of NBC’s NFL”.
The veteran sportscaster is also famous for having anchored MSNBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the summer of 2008 in addition to having served as a correspondent for NBC’s The Today Show.
With the ABC network, the Baltimorean was featured in The Sight and hosted a prime-time reality series called The Runner, produced by actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Additionally, in 2003, Melissa landed a job at NBC and served as a national correspondent for The Today Show alongside her anchor duties for MSNBC Live. Likewise, the 48-year-old sportscaster conducted interviews and prepared reports for NBC Sports, mainly covering Triple Crown and horse racing.
For the 2005 New Year’s Special, Stark and other reporters participated in a segment hosted by Carson Daly. After hosting the 2009 Super Bowl, she dropped out of her service to MSNBC Live and The Today Show. Additionally, for NBC Sports, the Baltimorean contributed her to the network covering the 2004/2008 Summer Olympics and 2006 Winter Olympics.
On the other hand, Melissa’s career has started to take off and recently she serves as a field reporter for the NFL network. Specifically, Stark reports live from the field for NFL Total Access and Around the League Live.
The 48-year-old has taken over the duties of being the host of a gameday show called First in the Field since September 2012.
Melissa Stark’s salary and income are high:
As a result of her incredibly long career that spans over two decades, Melissa is among the highest-paid sports announcers on the list. As such, the Baltimorean has a net worth of nearly $3 million. Similarly, Stark has a monthly earning of $18.8k this equates to a year $75.7k.
In fact, working for the NFL Network provided enough growth for this female sportscaster’s net worth. Professional and financial success is all thanks to her tireless work for various networks with renowned broadcasting organizations like ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.
Therefore, Melissa’s gain must be pretty convincing considering her impressive resume.
However, we hope that Stark’s fortune continues to grow and that he progresses in all aspects of the broadcast. Like many talented reporters before her, the Marylander has more than enough to contribute to the field.
Melissa Stark was once hit by a soccer ball:
In October 2018, parallel journalist Melissa Stark was giving some recent updates from London. The Los Angeles Chargers and Tennessee Titans were starting, and Stark was about to set a record on injured Chargers driving back Melvin Gordon.
“Oh, okay, nothing like live television”, Stark said after being excavated. After delivering the report on Gordon, Stark kept looking over her shoulder, saying, I’m really not okay here.