Shannon Spake

Last updated
Shannon Spake
Shannon Spake 2018.png
Spake in 2018
Occupation(s)Sportscaster, Sports reporter, NASCAR reporter, Television personality
Employer(s) Speed Channel (2005-2006)
ESPN (2007-2016)
Fox Sports (2016-2024)
NASCAR Digital Media/TNT Sports (2024–Present)
Bally Sports Southeast (2024-present)
Children2

Shannon Spake (born July 23, 1976) is an NFL reporter and NASCAR host, most recently for Fox Sports. Previously, she worked for ESPN where she contributed to SportsCenter to give pre and post-game reports, and also worked as a sideline reporter for SEC on ESPN basketball games as well as college football games. Spake also worked for the newly created SEC Network which is owned by ESPN.

Contents

Career

Before coming to ESPN, Spake worked at Speed channel, where she co-hosted NASCAR Nation in its second version (June through November 2005) and was a reporter in its first (February through June 2005). She also co-hosted Back Seat Drivers, a talk show, with online columnist Marty Smith. Her previous on-air jobs included those at WCCB in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Carolina Sports and Entertainment Television.

From 2007 to 2014. Spake was a NASCAR pit reporter for the network and contributed to both NASCAR Countdown and NASCAR Now . For the 2008 season, Spake was a full-time pit reporter for Nationwide and Sprint Cup races aired on ESPN. She would continue this role until ESPN lost the broadcast rights to NBC Sports beginning with the 2015 season. On August 13, 2013, Spake agreed to a multi-year contract extension with ESPN. [1]

Before becoming an on-air reporter, she worked for Nickelodeon, CBS (on The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel), and MTV as a production assistant.

Spake grew up in Florida. She is a graduate of Piper High School and Florida Atlantic University. In 1999 she served as an intern for the Miami-based radio talk show host Neil Rogers. [2]

It was announced on July 6, 2016, that Fox has hired Spake and will serve as a sideline reporter on their college football and basketball broadcasts, as a contributor to NASCAR Race Hub, and as a sideline reporter for select NFL broadcasts. [3]

On February 13, 2017, Spake was named the new co-host of NASCAR Race Hub, working alongside Adam Alexander. Spake also hosted NASCAR RaceDay on Saturdays and Sundays. [4]

In 2017 Spake was the voice of Shannon Spokes in the Pixar film Cars 3 .

On July 12, 2024, it was announced that Fox and Spake had parted ways. [5] Spake moved over to NASCAR Digital Media/TNT Sports to host NASCAR Inside The Playoffs .

Personal life

Spake gave birth to twins, Brady and Liam, on January 1, 2010.

Despite having corrective scoliosis surgery at age 12, she is active in the endurance sports community having competed in two full marathons and five 70.3 Ironman events as well as many shorter distance triathlons.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzy Kolber</span> American football sideline reporter, co-producer, and sportscaster

Suzy Kolber is an American football sideline reporter, co-producer, and a former ESPN sports anchor and reporter. She was one of the original anchors of ESPN2 when it launched in 1993. Three years later, she left ESPN2 to join Fox Sports, but returned to ESPN in late 1999. In 2023, she and several other ESPN employees were terminated by the network in what was described as a cost-cutting measure.

Danyelle Sargent-Musselman is a former American sports television reporter.

Tiffany "Jill" Arrington is an American sportscaster and reporter. She previously was a sports anchor at KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles for three years. Before that, she was in the same position at Fox Sports 1 and Fox SportsNet for five years, after being a sideline reporter on college football for ESPN during the 2004 college football season.

Jeanne Zelasko is an American journalist and sportscaster who worked for "The Beast" AM980 KFWB and Fox Sports West in Los Angeles County, California. Prior to taking that position Zelasko had a relatively lengthy career working for Fox Sports as a reporter and analyst for various programs, as well as reporting for MLB Network, ESPN and as the court reporter on Judge Joe Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michele Tafoya</span> American reporter and broadcaster

Michele Tafoya is an American reporter and retired sports broadcaster. Most notably, from 2011 to 2022, she worked primarily as a sideline reporter for NBC Sunday Night Football. Over the course of her career, she covered the National Football League, the Olympics, and professional basketball. Since Tafoya's departure from sportscasting, she has worked as a conservative political consultant and makes television appearances to discuss the state of American politics and culture.

<i>NASCAR on ESPN</i> US television program

NASCAR on ESPN is the now-defunct former package and branding of coverage of NASCAR races on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. ABC, and later the ESPN family of networks, carried NASCAR events from the sanctioning body's top three divisions at various points from the early 1960s until 2000, after the Truck Series rights were lost. However, ESPN resumed coverage of NASCAR with the Nationwide Series race at Daytona in February 2007 and the then-Nextel Cup Series at Indianapolis in July 2007. ESPN's final race was the Ford EcoBoost 400 at the Homestead–Miami Speedway on November 16, 2014, with Kevin Harvick winning that year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

<i>NASCAR RaceDay</i> 2001 American TV series or program

NASCAR RaceDay is an American pre-race television show on Fox Sports 1 and Fox that precedes all NASCAR Cup Series race broadcasts. Part of the Fox NASCAR series, the show previously aired on Fox Sports Net and Speed. NASCAR RaceDay is hosted by Shannon Spake or Adam Alexander with analysis from Bobby Labonte and Jamie McMurray from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bob Pockrass report from the track

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Byrnes</span> American television announcer (1959–2015)

Steven Patrick Byrnes was an American television announcer and producer.

Motor Racing Network (MRN) is a U.S. radio network that syndicates broadcasts of auto racing events, particularly NASCAR. MRN was founded in 1970 by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. and broadcaster Ken Squier, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of NASCAR. Its first broadcast was the 1970 Daytona 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Czarniak</span> American sports anchor and reporter

Lindsay Ann Czarniak is an American sports anchor and reporter. She currently works for Fox Sports as a sideline reporter for NFL games. After spending six years with WRC-TV, the NBC owned-and-operated station in Washington, D.C., Czarniak joined ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor in August 2011 and left ESPN in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krista Voda</span> American sportscaster

Krista Voda Kelley is an American sportscaster who covers auto racing as the play-by-play announcer for the ARCA Menards Series on MAVTV. She previously worked for NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR on Speed from 2003 to 2014 as the host of the pre-race show for the Truck Series and beginning in 2007 as a pit reporter for the NASCAR Cup Series. She also was a fill-in sideline reporter for Fox's NFL coverage. She then worked as the pre and post-race show host for the Cup Series for NBC from 2015 to 2020.

<i>NASCAR Race Hub</i> Former television series

NASCAR Race Hub was a daily NASCAR news program broadcast on Fox Sports 1 Monday through Thursday. Originally broadcast on Speed, the show replaced NASCAR Nation and This Week in NASCAR. NASCAR Race Hub premiered on October 12, 2009, as a 30-minute show, but was extended to 60 minutes in the following years. The show was again shortened to 30 minutes after moving to Fox Sports 1 from Speed in August 2013, only to be returned to 60 minutes starting on September 23. On May 8, 2024, reports emerged that Fox Sports had cancelled Race Hub, with its final episode aired on June 11, 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Rutledge</span> Reporter for ESPN and SEC network

Laura Rutledge is an American reporter and host for ESPN and the SEC Network. She is an American beauty pageant titleholder from St. Petersburg, Florida, who was named Miss Florida 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Alexander (sportscaster)</span> American television announcer

Adam Alexander is a television announcer with Fox Sports. He currently is the play-by-play announcer for Fox's NASCAR Xfinity Series coverage and a host of NASCAR Race Hub. He previously was the play-by-play for NASCAR on TNT from 2010 to 2014 and prior to that was a pit reporter for TNT, NASCAR on Speed and Motor Racing Network. He also has called college football and college basketball games for Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Taylor (sportscaster)</span> American sportscaster

Suzette Maria Taylor is an American sportscaster for NBC Sports. She has worked for ESPN and the SEC Network. She has covered college football, college volleyball, National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and men's and women's college basketball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kris Budden</span> American sports reporter

Kristen Lee "Kris" Budden is an American sports reporter for ESPN. Budden is known for reporting on the San Diego Padres as well as being a sideline reporter for college football and college basketball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danielle Trotta</span> American sportscaster (born 1981)

Danielle Trotta is an American journalist who covers auto racing for Sirius XM. She was the co-host of NASCAR Race Hub, and the pre-race show NASCAR RaceDay for Xfinity Series events on Fox Sports 1. Trotta started her career in high school, and after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, she worked for local station WBTV. She moved to Fox Sports in July 2010 where she has covered NASCAR and the NFL. In 2018, she joined the cast of Boston Sports Tonight at NBC Sports Boston.

References