One of the most familiar faces in football broadcasting never actually planned on having a career in television. For Laura Rutledge, getting into sports media was more of a chance opportunity than a carefully mapped-out career path. While looking for a way to earn some extra money during her freshman year at the University of Florida, she ended up taking an opening at the campus radio station and discovered sports almost by accident.
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Radio eventually became the part of broadcasting she enjoyed most. Television came later, and despite building a career that now includes hosting NFL Live and covering some of the biggest games in football, Rutledge admits it was never something she wanted to do.
“I did not want to do television, ever. I still don’t. I still love radio more. And now even podcasts are on video,” Rutledge said on Show Pony Live. “But I loved the idea of telling stories and just doing sports from audio only.”
That path looks quite different from where Rutledge is today. She is now the host of NFL Live, ESPN’s year-round, five-day-a-week football studio show, while she has also worked college football assignments for SEC Network and covered Monday Night Football. That said, she’ll be reporting from the sideline of the Atlanta Falcons at the New Orleans Saints game on October 5.
Rutledge writes much of NFL Live herself, with a group of researchers handling the research elements of the show. She sometimes contributes to that side of the preparation as well. For someone who never expected to work in sports broadcasting, writing has turned out to be one of the biggest parts of her career.
“I love writing, though. That’s my favorite part of this,” Rutledge also said. “Growing up, I thought it would be a lot of different things. This was not one of them. But I did think I would be a writer. So it’s funny, because I do write all day long now, just in a different way than I thought.”
Even sports itself was not originally the obvious choice. Rutledge grew up in Florida after her family moved from Atlanta to Blue Mountain Beach when she was nine years old. She took part in ballet, violin, percussion, and student government, but did not initially see sports as a career path.
Ballet was actually the first career she seriously considered, and she trained as a dancer and thought she could become a professional ballerina. During her senior year of high school, however, she realized that though she was good, she wanted to choose differently.
She eventually chose the University of Florida after receiving an academic scholarship. During her freshman year, she needed to earn some extra money, and someone suggested the university’s on-campus radio station. Rutledge expected to pursue news reporting, but the only available opening was in sports.
“I didn’t even think, I just said, ‘Yes.’ And then I was like, ‘I don’t know anything,’” she recalled.
She had to learn the basics from the ground up, including sports rules and history, and eventually Rutledge quickly fell in love with the work, taking on early-morning radio assignments, covering college recruiting and traveling around Florida for interviews.
The story continues, and an early connection helped Rutledge land an entry-level opportunity with Fox Sports, where she worked on pregame and postgame coverage for Tampa Bay Rays broadcasts.
Last year, she shared her first experience on television, which wasn’t comfortable. Rutledge was unfamiliar with the equipment and terminology and was so nervous that she noticed visible sweat marks on the pink satin shirt she wore that day. She was just trying to make it through.
Rutledge later worked covering the San Diego Padres, including fill-in hosting and an original show in California. She also spent time traveling around the country for auditions and opportunities after her pageant career, which included becoming Miss Florida in 2012 and competing at Miss America in 2013.
ESPN had initially told her she was too young to be hired and would not consider her until she was at least 30. Instead, the network hired her in 2014. Three years later, at 28, she became the host of SEC Nation.
Her television career eventually grew far beyond what she had imagined when she walked into that college radio station looking for a part-time job. Yet even now, with years of live television behind her, Rutledge’s preference has not really changed.