Ex-ESPN reporter Michele Steele lands major gig for new network

Former “SportsCenter” anchor Michele Steele has found a new sports media home. Steele, who left ESPN after 14 years last summer, signed on to become a contributor at the Big Ten Network. Front Office Sports reporter Michael McCarthy revealed the news on Thursday, March 26, after a phone interview with Steele, a University of Illinois graduate.

Steele, 47, will make her BTN debut March 28 by reporting from the Nebraska Cornhuskers spring football game. MORE: Yankees pitcher sounds off on fans’ ‘brutal’ TV nightmare: ‘sounds terrible’ “There is something really special for me about getting to cover a conference that you literally grew up with and graduated from–while staying here in Chicago which is my hometown. So it’s great.

This checks a lot of boxes for me,” Steele told FOS. Steele announced her departure from ESPN in a social media post on July 17. She appeared as an anchor on “SportsCenter,” “NFL Live” and “Outside the Lines” and reported from ESPN’s Boston and Chicago bureaus.

Steele said she will be a contributor across BTN’s game and studio programming. Steele reposted an X post from McCarthy with a message: “Looking forward to joining the very talented team @BigTenNetwork and covering the conference I grew up watching… . ” Because the Big Ten Network is owned primarily by Fox, Steele is a direct competitor to her former employer.