Melissa Stark Q&A: On the art of on-field questions, Eagles fans and Taylor Swift

1 week ago

25 6 minutes read

Each week during the football season, we will interview a different broadcaster. The goal is for readers to gain insight into how NFL and college football broadcasters approach what they do, along with some questions tied to the game or assignment they are charged with that week. Our seventh Q&A subject is Melissa Stark, who is in her second year as the sideline reporter for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and will be in Philadelphia this Sunday when the Eagles host the Miami Dolphins.

Previous weeks have featured Fox’s Greg Olsen, Amazon’s Al Michaels, CBS and Westwood One Audio’s Kevin Harlan, Fox’s Pam Oliver, CBS’ Gene Steratore, and ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky.

A challenge for your role is that you don’t have a lot of time with subjects in-game or even after a game. How can you ask a differentiating question in such a short time frame?

It’s tough, and I try to make it feel urgent. I try to keep my questions very short. I try to figure out whatever the two biggest storylines might be. A lot of times it’s based on what you just saw. It’s a matter of whatever the big themes are going in or whatever you’ve seen play out. I always think a good question — and people might think it’s generic, but I really like it — is, “What was the message in the locker room?” Coaches are pretty fiery. They’re intense. They’re in the moment.

For example, this past week I was talking to (New York Giants coach) Brian Daboll directly after the clock management issue with (quarterback) Tyrod Taylor. They weren’t able to get any points on the board at the end of the half (against the Buffalo Bills) and that ended up really the difference in the game. (Daboll) was off camera, but he literally couldn’t even think straight. He was so frustrated and irate with the situation, and I completely get it.

It’s funny because people will be critical and say, “I can’t believe you talked to the coach and you asked this in that moment.” Well, that’s my job. I don’t fault a coach for being frustrated or giving me a one-word answer. That’s his job, right? But as reporters, we’re there for a reason — it’s direct access for the fans to get that information.

Where is your preferred place to stand during games?

I’m all over the place. Last week, we had (Bills quarterback) Josh Allen and (wide receiver) Stefon Diggs, and we know how Diggs reacts on the sideline. So I know that I’m probably going to have some big observations from Diggs.

I just kind of follow whatever the storyline is. If a team is trailing and they seem frustrated, I’ll go over there to see the frustrations. I may come in with pre-prepared stories where I talk to players or mothers or wives during the week, but what it all boils down to is we really want the observations on the sidelines because you can’t get that anywhere else. Of course, if there’s an injury, I’m sprinting over to that, if someone is in the medical tent or the athletic trainers are looking at them.

Pam Oliver did this interview a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about Lincoln Financial Field, which is where you’ll be this Sunday. She said one of the reasons she liked Philadelphia was because the fans are very honest with television media people. What has your experience been like in Philly?

Oh, I’ve been on the sidelines in Philly (laughs). The fans are really intense. They are passionate, and they are tough. They’re not afraid to use profanities. People pretty much leave me alone though. It’s just a quick, “Hi, Melissa,” or something like that.

I crank up our broadcast in my ears, especially in loud stadiums like that. I’m really just listening to the broadcast, and I have IFBs in both ears. I want to hear what (announcers) Mike (Tirico) and Cris (Collinsworth) are saying. I want to talk to my sideline producer in the production truck, Erin Bollendorf, and say, “This is what I’m seeing.” So I pretty much tune out the crowd because I have the broadcast cranked up so loud.

Also, one of the huge things for “Sunday Night Football” is I have the luxury of having Mike Ryan, who is a former NFL trainer, down there with me. He’ll be on the other sideline. He knows what every injury looks like and what the staffs are doing. That is incredible in terms of providing information and knowledge on injuries.

Melissa Stark returned to NBC last year to be the sideline reporter for “Sunday Night Football,” replacing Michele Tafoya. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

You were a news intern for the “CBS Evening News with Dan Rather” in the 1990s and worked for NBC News for a couple of years. Had you stayed full-time in news and never came back to sports, what would you have wanted to cover?

I wanted to be like (longtime CNN reporter and anchor) Christiane Amanpour. I wanted to be overseas and walking around in the thick of it, talking to people and getting a sense of what was going on wherever the crisis or war was. Now, in retrospect, oh my goodness, because there’s no way I could have had a family. I realized that early on. That’s why I had to pivot.

There were two reasons I pivoted from news. I would be on the “Today” show filling in for Ann Curry or anchoring for MSNBC, and I’d be reading a news story, and all of a sudden a sports story would come on and I would just get this adrenaline rush and excitement, and a smile would come on my face. I could tell that’s what I’m so passionate about. There was a levity to it. Yes, there’s serious sports stories, but sports is sports. It’s a game. News is not.

Also, I remember very early on when I was with the “Today” show they called me when Roy (Horn) of Siegfried & Roy was mauled by a tiger. They said, “Can you go cover this? Can you fly out today?” My whole family was coming into town that weekend, a massive family reunion. I just said, “I can’t.” And I knew there was always somebody willing to do that, maybe that doesn’t have a close-knit family, or willing to sacrifice that. You mentioned Dan Rather. I remember he addressed all the interns and he said, “This is a job that you better be prepared to give up your life for.”

You covered two Olympics in your prior stint at NBC. Will you be in Paris for 2024?

I sure will be. I’ll be covering swimming (as the poolside reporter). That’s what I covered in Athens. I covered Michael Phelps, and I’m from Baltimore and he’s from Baltimore. I’m very excited.

You were part of the Chiefs–Jets broadcast. Having been in the middle of the vortex, how do you view the nexus of the Taylor Swift media machine meeting the NFL’s media machine?

We tried to strike a balance. I mentioned Taylor in my open and quickly transitioned it to Aaron Rodgers. The last time the two of them were in the same building, Rodgers was rocking out at her concert. I get that the hardcore football fan says, “Enough, we don’t want to hear anything about it.” And the Swifties, that’s all they cared about and all they wanted to hear.

My two daughters, because that was a home game, happened to be there. They are 16 years old, and I’ve gone to her concert with them. They’re absolutely obsessed with her. I mean, they were crying before our broadcast because they saw her coming out of her SUV and they got a video of it. It was hilarious. Then they were waiting post-game for her because she exited by our production trucks. I was sitting in the car thinking, “Let’s go, I’m old, I’m tired, I want to get home.” My two older boys are in the back of the car waiting. The girls were out there saying, “No, no, no, Mom, we’ve got to wait for her to leave.” It was very funny, and that was a true highlight for them.

I can grant you an assignment to cover any sporting event you have yet to cover. What would you choose?

Anything tennis like Wimbledon or the U.S. Open. I am an avid tennis player. I play USTA competitively. I remember as a young kid we traveled a lot as a family and I saw (John) McEnroe and (Andre) Agassi play at Wimbledon. I do not know how I missed covering tennis in my career. I’ve covered golf, the Olympics, but hands down that’s the one I missed out on. The individual part of it is fascinating to me. Being a tennis player and having to think about every point, it’s such a fascinating sport to me.