Rachel Nichols – $ 1.5 Million

Armed with a Medill School of Journalism degree, Rachel Nichols started her career with the Sun-Sentinel. She graduated to writing for the Washington Post and eventually joined ESPN as a “SportsCenter” regular. Nichols also covered several ESPN Monday Night Football broadcasts as a sideline reporter. 

She hosted “Unguarded with Rachel Nichols” on CNN and returned to ESPN as a co-host of the sports talk show “The Jump.” Nichols left ESPN in January 2022, with one year left on her $1.5M annual contract. She is widely lauded for her contributions to the field, and Sports Illustrated included her on their 2014 list of the “most prominent female sports journalists.”