NBC Hires Heather Cox As Thursday Night Football Sideline Reporter

by Pablo MenaJuly 14, 2016, 4:55 pmNews >

ESPN’s Heather Cox will join NBC’s Thursday Night Football as the sideline reporter, the network announced on Wednesday.

NBC Hires Heather Cox As Thursday Night Football Sideline Reporter

Cox, 46, will also work periodically with the Golf Channel and other key events for NBC, including the upcoming Rio Olympics.

Cox previously spent 22 years at ESPN, where she was the sideline reporter for ABC’s Saturday Night Football and the college football title games.

She has also previously worked with NBC at the last three Summer Olympics, where she served as the reporter for beach volleyball. She will be the reporter for indoor volleyball at next month’s Rio Games, covering the sport she played in college and professionally.

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NBC and CBS are each broadcasting five games this fall under the NFL’s new Thursday night contracts. This will be Cox’s first time working NFL games, and she will join booth announcers Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth. NBC’s first game is the New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers on Nov. 17.

She’ll also work with the Football Night in America crew, doing game reports from various NFL stadiums for Bob Costas’ studio show. She’ll join Football Night in America in late September after the Paralympics.

Cox also covered the NBA, WNBA and college basketball, among other events, at ESPN. ESPN had announced in May that Samantha Ponder would be the sideline reporter for “Saturday Night Football” this fall, while Michele Tafoya will continue to serve as the sideline reporter for Sunday Night Football, the full-season prime-time package NBC has had since 2006.

Cox’s contract ends this month.

“Every time a contract ends, it makes good business sense to test the waters, but I never felt like it was the right time to leave. This time around it does make sense,’’ Cox told the Idaho Statesman on Wednesday. “This was my choice. ESPN made a very competitive, fair counter bid for me to stay …

“You want to continue to grow, and that was an important part of wherever I ended up next.”

Cox will make her NBC golf debut at the PGA Phoenix Open in February, and is also scheduled to cover the 2018 Super Bowl in Minneapolis.

“We are excited to add Heather, a big-game reporter, to our Thursday Night Football team,” said Sam Flood, executive producer of NBC Sports. “She did an excellent job at three previous Summer Games with NBC, and appropriately, her first assignment is the Rio Olympics.”

Cox lives full time in Boise, Idaho with her husband, Bill Cox, and their two children, Aly, 10, and Will, 8.

She will continue her work as an ambassador and spokeswoman for the Idaho Potato Commission.

ARLINGTON, TX – SEPTEMBER 05: ESPN sideline reporter, Heather Cox talks with Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide before the Advocare Classic at AT&T Stadium on September 5, 2015 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)