ESPN MediaZone

Monday Night Football Reporter

Michele Tafoya

Michele Tafoya joined ESPN in 2000 and her profile has steadily risen through a variety of on-air roles, most notably as a reporter for Monday Night Football and ESPN’s NFL studio programs.

After serving as the sideline reporter for ABC Sports’ Monday Night Football for two seasons (2004-05), Tafoya joined ESPN’s Monday Night Football in 2006, helping the longtime franchise became the most-watched program in cable television history. On Mondays throughout the NFL season, Tafoya and Suzy Kolber provide regular updates on the participating MNF teams during multiple ESPN programs, including SportsCenter and Monday Night Countdown, in addition to reporting during the MNF games.

On Christmas Day 2006, Tafoya combined her high-profile NFL and then-NBA responsibilities to complete a rare double, covering the Lakers-Heat broadcast in the afternoon on ABC, as well as the N.Y. Jets-Dolphins MNF game that same evening on ESPN.  A year later, she completed a similar feat, working the MNF season-finale in San Diego on Christmas Eve, followed by the Suns-Lakers Christmas Day NBA game on ABC.

In the fall of 2008, Tafoya made the difficult decision to step down from her NBA reporter role to spend more time with her family.

Tafoya’s on-air roles have included men’s and women’s NCAA basketball play-by-play and studio hosting, and college football and basketball sideline reporting.  She also has served as a substitute host on Pardon the Interruption and as a panelist on Sports Reporters II.  Previously, her ESPN assignments included calling WNBA games, hosting skiing telecasts, a substitute host for ESPN Radio’s Tirico & Van Pelt Show and working on ESPN’s college basketball selection shows as a reporter.

Prior to ESPN, Tafoya worked for CBS Sports since 1994 as a game reporter and studio host for NFL, college football and college basketball telecasts. She also hosted CBS’ NCAA Tournament selection show, Goodwill Games and U.S. Open coverage, as well as CBS’s late-night Winter Olympics programs in 1998. She has been a WNBA commentator on Lifetime since 1997.

In addition to her ESPN role, Tafoya began hosting The Michele Tafoya Show (3-6 p.m. CT) in July 2009 on WCCO News Radio 830 AM in Minneapolis-St. Paul.  Earlier in her career, she worked as a host and reporter for KFAN-AM in Minneapolis, primarily for Minnesota Vikings’ and University of Minnesota women’s basketball broadcasts. She also previously worked for WAQS-AM in Charlotte, where she was the first female analyst to call UNC-Charlotte men’s basketball games.

Tafoya also worked for the Midwest Sports Channel, serving as a Minnesota Timberwolves host and sideline reporter as well as a play-by-play commentator for women's Big Ten basketball and volleyball. She also spent three years at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis as a sports anchor and reporter.

A native of Manhattan Beach, Calif., Tafoya graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in broadcast journalism and earned her master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California.

The American SportsCasters Association voted Tafoya among the top female sportscasters (No. 4) in 2009, while the Davie-Brown Index ranked Tafoya among the most likeable TV sports personalities in 2006, including “Biggest Trend-Setter.”  In 1997, The American Women in Radio and Television honored Tafoya with a Gracie Award for “Outstanding Achievement by an Individual On-Air TV Personality” for her WNBA work with Lifetime.

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