Formerly a reporter for the NFL Network, she spent five seasons as host of NFL 360. She previously worked with NBC, primarily at its MSNBC subsidiary and as a correspondent for NBC's The Today Show.[2] In the summer of 2008, she anchored MSNBC's coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Prior to NBC, she was a reporter for ESPN.
Stark has been described as a "trailblazer" who paved the way for women in sportscasting, which had fewer women broadcasters at the beginning of her career.[3]
Early life and education
Stark was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Walter Stark, an eye surgeon at the Wilmer Eye Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Her interest in sports began during her childhood in Baltimore, when she attended Baltimore Colts games with her father, who treated players for eye injuries.[4] She graduated from the Roland Park Country School, a women's prep school in Baltimore, where she was class valedictorian.[5]
In 1991, she became a news intern on the assignment desk at WMAR-TV in Baltimore. Stark was a news intern for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather in 1993 and 1994 where she wrote scripts and assembled background information on investigative pieces for health correspondent Bob Arnot.[7]
Stark joined ESPN in 1996 as the host of the weekly program Scholastic Sports America, where she traveled across the United States covering high school and college sports focusing on human interest and issue-related stories.[9]
In addition to her sportscasting career, Stark has appeared as a guest host on The View and was the co-host of ABC Entertainment's 2001 pilot presentation of The Runner, a prime-time reality-based program conceived by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.[6]
She made her NBC Sports debut in 2004 contributing reports and interviews for the network's coverage of the Triple Crown and other big horse racing events for the network.[4]
In 2005, Stark participated as a reporter for NBC's New Year's Eve coverage, hosted by Carson Daly. She left MSNBC Live and The Today Show in November 2006.
Stark has also done field work for NFL Network shows NFL Total Access and Around The League Live. She hosted the NFL Network gameday show First on the Field and the on-site pre-game show, GameDay Kickoff, later renamed GameDay First, at primetime designations along with Shaun O'Hara, Sterling Sharpe, and Brian Billick for five years beginning in 2012.
Stark was the host of the Emmy Award-winning series NFL 360.[12] As host and reporter for NFL Network, she is most known for interviewing players on stage at the draft and hosting red carpet events for the draft and Super Bowl as well the NFL Honors.[14]
On April 4, 2024, it was announced that NFL Network were making staff cuts and Stark along with three other NFL Network employees were being laid off from their jobs with the channel.[15]
