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.
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.
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.
Billy Ray Brown - CBS
Salary: $2 million per year
Old-school Golfing legend Billy Ray Brown is a true veteran of the sport and played from 1987 until the late '90s. Brown is also a true Texan. He was born in Houston in 1963 and has had many accomplishments during his golf career including 3 PGA Tour victories.
Brown had to cut his golfing career short due to wrist injuries. After his retirement from competitive golf in 1999, he went on to report for ABC sports for 8 years before joining The Golf Channel. If you're an avid sports card collector, you can purchase a Billy Ray Brown trading card on Amazon for just around $3!
Mike Francesa - Mike’s On: Francesa on the FAN
Salary: $3 million per year
Popular talk show radio host Mike Francesa is the host of Mike and the Mad Dog radio show, one of the most famous and successful radio shows in America. Prior to starting his solo career, Mike was a sportscaster for CBS Sports and WFAN, covering various events, mostly related to the NFL. Francisca also hosts the weekly "The NFL Now" radio show and the night-time "Sportstime" on CBS Radio Network.
The acclaimed radio host stated in 2016 that he plans to retire once his contract with WFAN expired, and signed off for the last time in December 2017 by thanking fans of the show. Just a few months after retiring, Francesa launched a mobile app called "Mike's On" with a subscription-based payment model, which streams his show and archived interviews. The app's $8.99 monthly cost was widely criticized by various news outlets, with headlines such as "Buyer, beware! Mike Francesa's pricey new app just another way for the Sports Pope to con the masses", you can safely say that the move was not too well received.