Cari Champion Biography
Cari Champion is an American journalist and television personality who is currently the co-host of Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports with Jemele Hill on the Vice on the TV network. Previously, she worked as an anchor and reporter for the Tennis Channel and as the host of ESPN2’s First Take. In July 2014, Cari became an anchor for ESPN‘s flagship program SportsCenter.
Champion attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in English and minored in mass communications. She wrote for the Daily Bruin and was inspired to pursue a career in journalism by UCLA alumni, including Matea Gold of the Washington Post. She started her journalism career with the main aim of transforming negative stereotypes of African Americans. In her junior year, Cari studied in Washington D.C. and earned an internship at CNN. She then graduated from UCLA in 2000 with an English degree.
Cari started her broadcasting career at several television stations, moving to West Virginia for her first reporting job. She was a reporter at the Orange County Newschannel in Santa Ana, California before joining WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida as a reporter in 2002.
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In November 2002, she was fired for allegedly uttering profanity on air while working as an anchor for WGCL-TV in Atlanta. However, she appealed the firing and said the interview for the Maynard Institute that the floor director had not alerted her nad her-co-anchor following a commercial break, and that the microphone picked up a conversation they were having during the break. The conversation was about an unhandy mechanical screenwriter. She was then rehired in January 2008, but left shortly after in March for a broadcasting job outside of Atlanta.
After relocating to Florida, Cari covered news such as human interest stories and devastating hurricanes in the state. As a reporter, she developed an affinity for tennis after covering players like Venus and Serena Williams. Subsequently, she auditioned for the Tennis Channel’s burgeoning news department and was one of three women selected from a pool of more than fifty candidates.
Champion joined the network in 2009 and worked as a courtside reporter, and anchored the channel’s Court Report news segment. In addition, she worked as an entertainment reporter for Starz and shows like The Insider and Hollywood 411.
Cari Champion Age
How old is Cari Champion? Cari is 48 years old as of 2023. She was born on June 1, 1975, in Pasadena, California, the United States of America. In addition, she celebrates her birthday on June 1st every year.
Cari Champion Husband
Champion has remained silent about her dating life. However, she was rumored to be dating Ryen Russillo as well as Stephen A. Smith. She has not spoken about either of the allegations and instead has remained silent on the matter. We promise to update you once she comes clear about her dating life.
Cari Champion Family
Champion was born in Pasadena, California to her parents Dylan Champion and Mariah Champion. She has an elder sister and two young brothers.
Cari Champion ESPN
Champion joined ESPN on October 1st, 2012 as a host. She initially hosted the sport’s show dubbed First Take, moderating the debates that took place between Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith.
In early 2020, she announced that she would leave ESPN after seven years of service. As she had announced, she left the network in January. But why did Cari leave ESPN? Cari did not reveal the reason as to why she left ESPN. However, according to her tweet dated February 20, 2020, Cari expressed her reason for leaving;
Hey y’all! I haven’t reached out in a minute. Just wanted to say I’m working and hustling and loving life. It feels good to work with those who value diversity and inclusion!
Cari Champion Net Worth
Champion has an estimated net worth of $2 million. Her wealth is mainly from her successful career as a journalist and reality television personality.
Cari Champion Films
- 2008 – Dirty S*xy Money as TV Reporter
- 2009 – Eleventh Hour as Anchorwoman
- ‘009 – Lie to me as Reporter
- 2009 – The Young and the Restless as Television Reporter
- 2010 – Sympathy for Delicious as Internet Journalist
- 2010 – Cinema Salvation as Marianne
- 2012 – CSI: Miami as Female Reporter
- 2013 – The Bling Ring as Female TV Reporter
- 2017 – Zoovie as Penni Lou
- 2018 – Grown-ish as Cari Champion