Charissa Thompson
Encyclopedia
Charissa Thompson is an American television host and sportscaster
, currently for ESPN
.
. She is a 2004 graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara
, where she interned at ABC
affiliate KEYT-TV
.
for FSN Rocky Mountain in the weekly news magazine show Rockies All Access. She also hosted WNBA Weekly and covered sports for the University of Denver
and the University of Colorado at Boulder
.
Baseball programs she has appeared on include The 2007 MLB All-Star Game Red Carpet Parade and The Baseball Report both on FSN.
Her duties include NFL
sideline reporter
for Fox
, as well as for college football
and college basketball
games on Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Net. She also appears on the college football shows Friday Night Tailgate, on Big Ten Network; as well as BCS Breakdown and The BCS Show on FSN. She also co-hosted FSN's The Best Damn Sports Show Period
alongside Chris Rose and John Salley. The show was canceled in July of 2009.
She has also hosted FSN's rodeo show Toughest Cowboy. She is also the co-host of Big Saturday Night on GSN and host of countdown show Big Ten's Best on Big Ten Network.
In 2009, she performed sideline reporting in the television show Shaq Vs.
.
In the fall of 2009, she was named an ice-level reporter for NHL on Versus.
In 2010, Charissa appeared on the NFL Network's "NFL Now Updates". She covered the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, reporting for Yahoo! Sports. She was also recently added as a co-host for the Speed Network's "Fast Track To Fame" alongside NASCAR
driver Michael Waltrip
.
In June and July of 2010, Thompson covered the FIFA World Cup
in South Africa
for Yahoo! Sports
. In January 2011, Charissa covered the BCS National Championship game for Yahoo! Sports. In February 2011, she covered the Super Bowl in Dallas, Texas
, for Yahoo! Sports. Also in February, Charissa covered the NBA All-Star Game for Yahoo! Sports.
In January 2011, Charissa covered the NHL All-Star Game for Versus.
In February 2011, Versus dropped Charissa, as well as Lindsay Soto, from their ice-level reporting staff after the NBC-Comcast meger and were replaced by Pierre McGuire
and Brian Engblom
by forming the Inside the Glass.
In June 2011, Thompson joined ESPN
. She along with Michael Smith
co-host the show Numbers Never Lie, which debuted September 12, 2011.
monthly TV Guide
-like magazine) and interviewed Philadelphia Phillies
pitcher Cole Hamels
for the feature story.
In 2009, Thompson was nominated as one of Playboy's Sexiest Sportscasters of the year. She made it as a Top Five finalist, but the award was given to ESPN's Erin Andrews.
In the fall of 2009, Thompson broke her foot and her ankle in a step aerobics class and had to miss most of the 2009 NFL and college football season due to surgery. Charissa enjoys yoga, running, cycling, and rhythmic gymnastics.
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
, currently for ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
.
Education and early career
Thompson grew up in Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. She is a 2004 graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, where she interned at ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate KEYT-TV
KEYT-TV
KEYT-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo, California areas. Licensed to Santa Barbara, California the station broadcasts on digital UHF channel 27 and uses VHF channel 3 as its virtual channel...
.
Broadcasting career
Thompson began her TV career with FSN Rocky Mountain (in Denver, Colorado) in the Human Resources Department. Thompson's first on-screen job was covering the Colorado RockiesColorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are a Major League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1991, they started play in 1993 and are in the West Division of the National League. The team is named after the Rocky Mountains...
for FSN Rocky Mountain in the weekly news magazine show Rockies All Access. She also hosted WNBA Weekly and covered sports for the University of Denver
Denver Pioneers
The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver. They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, with most teams participating in the Sun Belt Conference. The Western Athletic Conference will become Denver's primary sports conference on July 1, 2012.The...
and the University of Colorado at Boulder
Colorado Buffaloes
The University of Colorado Boulder sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's team are called the Buffaloes or Golden Buffaloes . "Lady Buffs" referred to the women's teams beginning in the 1970s, but was officially dropped in 1993...
.
Baseball programs she has appeared on include The 2007 MLB All-Star Game Red Carpet Parade and The Baseball Report both on FSN.
Her duties include NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
sideline reporter
Sideline reporter
A sideline reporter, also known as a field reporter, courtside reporter , clubhouse reporter or dugout reporter , rinkside reporter or inside-the-glass reporter , on-court reporter , hole reporter , or boundary rider , is a member of the...
for Fox
NFL on FOX
NFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports...
, as well as for college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
games on Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Net. She also appears on the college football shows Friday Night Tailgate, on Big Ten Network; as well as BCS Breakdown and The BCS Show on FSN. She also co-hosted FSN's The Best Damn Sports Show Period
The Best Damn Sports Show Period
The Best Damn Sports Show Period is an American sports television show on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. The show regularly featured irreverent and opinionated interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities, and entertainers. It also aired Top 50 countdown shows and other sports...
alongside Chris Rose and John Salley. The show was canceled in July of 2009.
She has also hosted FSN's rodeo show Toughest Cowboy. She is also the co-host of Big Saturday Night on GSN and host of countdown show Big Ten's Best on Big Ten Network.
In 2009, she performed sideline reporting in the television show Shaq Vs.
Shaq Vs.
Shaq Vs. is an American reality television show produced for ABC by Dick Clark Productions and Media Rights Capital starring American basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. It began airing on August 18, 2009....
.
In the fall of 2009, she was named an ice-level reporter for NHL on Versus.
In 2010, Charissa appeared on the NFL Network's "NFL Now Updates". She covered the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, reporting for Yahoo! Sports. She was also recently added as a co-host for the Speed Network's "Fast Track To Fame" alongside NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
driver Michael Waltrip
Michael Waltrip
Michael Curtis Waltrip is a semi-former professional race car driver, co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, and a published author. He is the younger brother of three-time NASCAR champion and racing commentator Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500; having won the race in...
.
In June and July of 2010, Thompson covered the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
for Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo! Sports was launched on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc., employs various writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American sport...
. In January 2011, Charissa covered the BCS National Championship game for Yahoo! Sports. In February 2011, she covered the Super Bowl in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, for Yahoo! Sports. Also in February, Charissa covered the NBA All-Star Game for Yahoo! Sports.
In January 2011, Charissa covered the NHL All-Star Game for Versus.
In February 2011, Versus dropped Charissa, as well as Lindsay Soto, from their ice-level reporting staff after the NBC-Comcast meger and were replaced by Pierre McGuire
Pierre McGuire
Pierre McGuire , is an ice hockey analyst for National Hockey League broadcasts on NBC and Versus in the United States. Until 2011, he was a prominent hockey analyst on The Sports Network in Canada. Previously, he was a player, coach, and scout.-Hockey career:McGuire won two Stanley Cups as a scout...
and Brian Engblom
Brian Engblom
Brian Paul Engblom is an ice hockey broadcaster and retired Canadian professional hockey defenseman.-Biography:...
by forming the Inside the Glass.
In June 2011, Thompson joined ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. She along with Michael Smith
Michael Smith (sports reporter)
Michael Smith is a host, commentator, and reporter for ESPN -Career:Smith was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana where he graduated from McDonogh No. 35 Senior High School and then Loyola University of New Orleans...
co-host the show Numbers Never Lie, which debuted September 12, 2011.
Non-broadcasting works
Thompson appeared on the cover of the April 2009 issue of Access DirecTV (satellite TV provider DirecTV'sDirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
monthly TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
-like magazine) and interviewed Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
pitcher Cole Hamels
Cole Hamels
Colbert Michael "Cole" Hamels is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Hamels throws a four-seam fastball, a circle changeup, a curveball, and a cut fastball, which he added in 2010...
for the feature story.
In 2009, Thompson was nominated as one of Playboy's Sexiest Sportscasters of the year. She made it as a Top Five finalist, but the award was given to ESPN's Erin Andrews.
Personal
She currently lives in Hermosa Beach, CA.In the fall of 2009, Thompson broke her foot and her ankle in a step aerobics class and had to miss most of the 2009 NFL and college football season due to surgery. Charissa enjoys yoga, running, cycling, and rhythmic gymnastics.