Broadcast host Maria Taylor will join NBC Sports after seven years with ESPN, and made her debut on NBC’s Tokyo Olympics primetime show on Friday night.
Taylor will not only host the Olympics, she will also work on NFL coverage as a host and contributor for Football Night in America and Super Bowls.
“Maria has excelled in a wide range of roles at marquee events, and will be a powerful addition to our team,” NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said in a statement. “We are always looking to improve, and Maria is going to make us better.”
She wrapped up hosting the NBA Finals on Tuesday — the day her contract reportedly expired with ESPN — before joining NBC.
Her future at ESPN had made headlines recently after The New York Times revealed comments fellow host Rachel Nichols made about Taylor in July 2020. The comments, made when Nichols was apparently unaware that a camera was recording, came after Taylor, who is Black, had been assigned hosting duties for “NBA Countdown” during the NBA Finals.
Nichols publicly apologized to Taylor and her colleagues and ESPN pulled her from sideline coverage during the finals.
Taylor joined ESPN in 2014 and was a host and reporter covering college football, women’s basketball and the NBA. She failed to reach an extension with the network, the two sides announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“Words are inadequate to express my boundless appreciation, and I hope to make them proud,” Taylor said in a statement at the time.
