Ahmad Rashad – NBC, ABC
Salary: $500,000 per year
Ahmad Rashad, the successful Emmy Award-winning sportscaster and NFL wide receiver, has managed to make the NFL’s roster of broadcasters much more diverse. The 4 time Pro Bowl winner and College Football Hall of Famer converted from Christianity to Islam at age 23 and changed his name from Bobby Moore to Ahmad Rashād.
After retiring from his NFL career which began in 1972 and ended in 1982, he started covering NFL, NBA and MLB games for various studios such as NBC and ABC. The retired NFL player also starred in various TV shows and films over the years, including Space Jam, Monsters and Best of the Best, later becoming a panelist for the Morning Drive talk show on the Golf Channel. As a junior college student, Rashad was caught stealing and was charged with a misdemeanor in early 1971, possibly contributing to his decision to convert his religion.
Dan Le Batard - ESPN
Salary: $3.5 million per year
Host of "The Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz", Dan Le Batard is a unique sports broadcaster with a colorful self-deprecating sense of humor, as evident by his show's Twitter slogan, calling itself "a careening clown car that collides with entertainment at the intersection of stupidity and profundity and then, as fire reaches the sky, Stugotz is a felon". The sportswriter, radio host and reporter works from Miami, Florida and also hosts the daily ESPN show "Highly Questionably".
Dan was born in 1968 in New Jersey to Cuban parents and began his career in Miramar, Florida as a columnist in Miami Herald during the '90s. He frequently appears on ESPN as a guest in shows such as Outside the Lines, The Sports Reporters, and College GameDay. However, Le Batard's career has not been without controversy. The acclaimed sportscaster was revealed to use his platform as a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America to manipulate the Baseball Hall of Fame Votes, as-well-as being suspended for 2 days for mocking LeBron by taking out a billboard of his as a parody.
Jeff Van Gundy - ESPN
Salary: $16 million per year
Jeffrey William Van Gundy is a color commentator for ESPN and former head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets. Born in California, his basketball coaching career began in 1985 when he was just 23 and continues on to this day. After 4 years of disappointments, while coaching the Houston Rockets which included many loses and injuries, Gundy was fired from his role as head coach and became a guest analyst for ESPN. He has been a regular broadcast member there ever since.
Beyond the world of basketball, Van Gundy is also an executive board member of Pro-Vision Academy, a non-profit Houston-based charter school that helps 10 to 18-year-old kids with topics such as education and career training. He has also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Nazareth College.
Curt Menefee - Fox
Salary: $3 million per year.
NFL Sundays are one of the most important (if not the most important) shows on television for American football fans, and Curt Menefee who is the host of the show certainly is a big part of it. The 54-year-old American sportscaster is well-known for his positive and energetic commentary.
Menefee has received many awards for his sports anchoring and reporting, from the Associated Press Award for Best Sports Reporter to four Katie Awards for Best Sportscast and Best Sports Special.
Whit Watson - The Golf Channel
Salary: $3.5 million per year
Sportscaster Whit Watson joined the Golf Channel in mid-2010 and has been working as an anchor and host there ever since. Watson hosted many play-by-play commentaries for major events including the PGA Tour and LGPA Tour. He is also a keynote speaker for sports conferences and solicits invitations for speeches, corporate appearances, and various other events through AthleteSpeakers.com.
Watson’s career has been without any major scandal or drama and he was awarded 4 Emmys during his work for The Golf Channel. He had worked at ESPN for seven years prior to joining the Golf Channel. His career began when he was hired for Orlando Magic as a TV and radio producer between 1993 and 1997 and also appeared in the historical documentary show "ESPN SportsCentury" in 1999 as himself.