Mike Patrick – ESPN
Salary: $6.5 million per year
Just last year, 36 year ESPN broadcasting veteran Mike Patrick officially retired from broadcasting. The 74-year-old had an extensive broadcasting career that spanned over many sports and events. Patrick has contributed to the network by covering NFL games in their Sunday Night Football series for nearly 20 years, not to mention calling over 30 basketball championships over his 14 years of being the play-by-play broadcaster for Women’s Final Four.
Outside of ESPN, the recently retired broadcaster did some play-by-play commentating for the Cleveland Browns pre-season football games. He currently lives in Virginia with his wife, Janet. In his final interview with ESPN, prior to leaving the network, he expressed how happy he was for the people he got to work with on-air and behind the scenes. ESPN aired a tribute, narrated by Rece David on SportsCenter to commemorate Patrick’s long and important career.
Lisa Salters - ESPN
Salary: $2 million per year
The feisty journalist and former women's basketball player from Pennsylvania, Lisa Salters, is a highly accomplished woman who was recently conducted into the Montgomery County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Salters began her career in sports and journalism when she received her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. While studying, she also tried her hand at basketball, even though she wasn't exactly the tallest basketball player in the world. Standing at just 5' 2, Salters became the school's shortest player in history when she became a guard for the Lady Lions basketball team from 1986 to 1987.
The accomplished journalist went on to join ESPN as a general assignment reporter in the year 2000 and has had a very interesting career that included both sports and worldwide news. She has covered various high-profile topics outside of sports, such as the Oklahoma City bombing trials, the Matthew Shepard murder, the crash of TWA Flight 800, and both the civil and criminal O.J. Simpson trials. Salters was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award in 2008 for her story "Ray of Hope" about organ donations.
Reggie Miller - TNT
Salary: $250,000 per year
After 18-years in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, Reginald Wayne Miller is widely considered to be the team's greatest player of all time. Miller quickly rose to prominence through his excellent 3-pointers and in-ring trash talk. Both 5 time NBA All-Star, Miller, and his sister have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. With an incredible record of over 25,000 points throughout his career, Miller is the 14th highest scoring player in the NBA. He was also chosen as the USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year in 2002.
Nowadays Miller is a game analyst for TNT's Thursday Night Doubleheaders, he also contributes to The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio. A documentary film directed by Peabody Award-winner Dan Klores was made about Miller and his team's famous win against the Knicks, the film's name is "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks".
Hannah Storm - ESPN
Salary: $130,000 per year
Award-winning journalist, producer, director and philanthropist, Hannah Storm, is best known as ESPN's SportsCenter Face to Face Anchor. Storm joined ESPN in 2008 and has been there ever since. Her career officially began in 1989 as CNN Sports Tonight anchor and has been on the rise ever since. Storm has written 2 books to date, one about university life and the other about raising confident and successful daughters through sports. She also contributes often to various publications including Cosmopolitan, Nick Jr., Family Circle, Child, and Notre Dame Magazine.
Near the end of 2012, the anchor suffered severe burns to her chest, hands, and face from a grill explosion that occurred at her home. After just a few weeks of hiatus, she returned to co-host the Rose Parade with bandages and has since made a full recovery.
Shannon Sharpe - ESPN
Salary: $5 million per year
With over a million Instagram followers and 3 Super Bowl championships, the buff Shannon Sharpe could easily replace his current TV career with one in modeling. The retired NFL wide-receiver played for the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens and went on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Sharpe is another case of a retired NFL player leveraging his exposure beyond TV and building a massive social media following. He definitely knows how to play to the crowd and frequently uploads everything from funny personal videos to inspirational messages.
Sharpe retired in his prime while holding various NFL records, such as the most receptions, most receiving yards, and most receiving touchdowns. He was also the first-ever NFL player to collect over 10,000 receiving yards. His post-playing life has been fairly drama-free, except a controversy from 2010 when an alleged ex-girlfriend filed a restraining order against him. The allegations were investigated and were quickly dismissed as bogus.