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ESPN announces multi-year contract extension for Laura Rutledge

by:Alex Byington•02/26/25•

_AlexByington

laura-rutledge-hosts-ksr
(Photo: ESPN)

ESPN announced it has re-signed popular NFL Live and SEC Nation host Laura Rutledge to a multi-year contract extension that will further expand her role on the network.

“Laura is a consummate professional and wonderful teammate,” ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus said in a press release. “Her versatility allows us to utilize her in multiple roles, across numerous sports, throughout the year. We are fortunate to have her.”

Rutledge will continue her work as host of NFL Live and the SEC Network’s premier Saturday morning SEC Nation pregame show, a role she’s held since 2016, while appearing as part of the onsite broadcast team for marquee NFL and college football games, as well as other signature events such as the NFL Draft, the Masters, SEC Kickoff and more, according to the release.

“ESPN has provided me the support and freedom to build my dream career since I arrived eager to learn and grow. I appreciate its continued faith in me and hope they recognize the gratitude and pride I have working for the company,” Rutledge said in the statement. “On a personal level, so many colleagues have become mentors and dear friends during my 10 years and I have relationships with them that will always be special, including my NFL Live team who I consider family.”

In addition to her on-air roles, ESPN announced Rutledge would continue to serve as a “company ambassador at signature industry events.”

Rutledge, 36, is a graduate of the University of Florida and is married for former Alabama baseball player and ex-MLB shortstop Josh Rutledge. The couple have two young children, Reese and Jack, who are fan favorites when appearing on Rutledge’s social media with their weekly SEC game of the week picks.

Laura Rutledge reveals what led to new Sugar Bowl start time between Notre Dame, Georgia

ESPN’s Laura Rutledge explained the latest about how plans came together for the rescheduled Sugar Bowl playoff quarterfinal.

Rutledge, who has been in New Orleans for the bowl and since been covering it following the terror act in the city on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day, gave an update on how it all went in setting the game between No. 2 Georgia and No. 7 Notre Dame for Jan. 2 at 4 pm ET. She said it was a large conversation considering who all was involved in it yesterday afternoon.

“Well, it was a lot of discussion that got to that point – first off, the discussion between the Sugar Bowl officials, the College Football Playoff, the teams, the FBI, the city of New Orleans,” Rutledge noted this morning on ‘Get Up.’

“That was a long meeting that happened yesterday midday when they were trying to figure out exactly what they would do.”

However, with the semifinal to follow just a week away, the Bulldogs and Fighting Irish wanted kickoff to be earlier than the original time would have been New Year’s Day at 8 pm ET. It wasn’t what anyone wanted to be considering but, with the football aspect of it, the programs preferred to play as soon as they could do so on Jan. 2.

“The reason why they landed at 4 pm eastern, three central is because there is an extremely quick turnaround for whichever team wins this game into the Orange Bowl, which is a week away so less time to prepare for the team that will play Penn State in that game,” Rutledge said.

“As you said so well, all of that pales in comparison to what happened here and the tragedy, certainly, that occurred. But these teams did have to think about the schedule and doing what’s best for the athletes and everybody involved, right,” Rutledge continued. “The postponement of 24 hours? At first, we thought that meant it would be a true 24 hours, it would be a game happening tonight but we started to get word that both teams, especially, were pushing toward the earlier start time, as early as possible start time, for today.”

On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report.