$1.5 Million – Lindsay Czarniak
Lindsay Czarniak, who had risen to become one of ESPN’s most promising young athletes, left the network for a more lucrative opportunity with Fox Sports 1. Her previous experience hosting Sportscenter served her well as she transitioned to hosting NASCAR coverage for her newly launched network. She has also covered other sports in addition to NASCAR, including the NFL, which she has done in the past. Hers was the first journalist to be granted permission to interview Washington Redskins players following the tragic death of Sean Taylor in 2007.
$1 Million – Jemele Hill
Jemele Hill was making a cool million dollars per year when she was at the height of her career with ESPN. She was employed by the network for more than a decade, during which time she developed iconic chemistry and partnership with Michael Smith. It was because of their success as a team that ESPN gave them their own version of Sportscenter, which they called SC6. Unfortunately, the show covered far too many topics for the network, and it was cancelled after only a short time on the airwaves. Hill no longer works for ESPN as of this writing. As a substitute, she produces her own podcast and writes for The Atlantic magazine.