ESPN Fired Sam Ponder: Her Net Worth is $15 Million!

Sam Ponder, who used to host Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN, has a net worth of $15 million. Crazy, right?

Since college, Ponder’s been working in sports media. She started as a sideline reporter for the Liberty Flames sports TV network. Then she worked for Fox Sports Net and Fox College Sports. On July 7, 2011, ESPN’s Longhorn Network hired her as a sideline reporter.

Sam Ponder made a lot of money in her career. Her net worth mostly comes from her salary as a sportscaster.

She went to the King’s College in New York and applied for a hostess job at ESPN Zone. There, she met Ben Keeperman, a college football manager at ABC Sports Radio. He helped her get an internship at the network. Ponder started working as a research assistant with ABC-TV on the college football studio show.

Later, Liberty’s senior sports producer, Bruce Carey, offered her a sideline reporter job. She transferred to Liberty University and graduated in 2009.

She then worked as a sideline reporter for Big 12 and Pac-10 college basketball and football games for Fox Sports Net and Fox College Sports.

On July 7, 2011, she joined ESPN’s Longhorn Network as one of its first hires. ESPNU anchor Lowell Galindo and former Austin sports talk radio host Kevin Dunn were also hired.

Since 2011, she became one of ESPN’s top talents and one of the highest-paid women in sports media because of her smart football reporting.

She reportedly had a salary of $4.9 million. In March 2022, she signed a new contract with ESPN for $3 million over three years. She was also expected to cover the NFL Draft. But in August 2024, ESPN fired her and analyst Robert Griffin III for financial reasons.

Even with being fired, Sam Ponder made seven figures throughout her career, which explains her $15 million net worth.

Extra Stuff About Sam Ponder

• Sam Ponder was born Samantha Sainte-Claire Steele on December 11, 1985, in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s one of three kids of Jerry and Cindi Steele.
• She’s married to Christian Ponder, a former quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. They started dating after he messaged her on Twitter. They got married on December 17, 2012, just a few months later. They have three kids: Bowden Sainte-Claire, Price Anne-Drew Ponder, and Price.