Cari Champion is an American broadcast journalist who is currently serving as a sportscaster for Tennis Channel in ESPN. She worked as the host for ESPN’s leading show, SportsCenter from 2014-2018.

In addition to this, she has also hosted its other shows, including SportsNation. Prior, Champion served for WPTV-TV, WGCL-TV, Orange County News Channel, ABC, CBS, and NBC.

From her overall career as an anchor, she has a net worth of around $2 million. As per the Celebrity Net Worth, she makes $1 million per annum.

Cari Champion’s Millionaire Status From Journalism Career         

At the starting phase of her career, Cari worked for the Orange County News Channel. In 2002, she started working as a reporter on NBC-affiliated WPTV-TV.

Later on, she moved to WGCL-TV in Atlanta. However, in 2007, she got fired from the network after she was allegedly using obscene language while hosting the show.

After this, she worked in several media networks such as ABC, NBC, CBC, covering the news regarding the sport as well as entertainment.

ESPN host Cari Champion Accumulated $2 million

Image Source: Aspen Ideas Festival

Her career got huge limelight after ESPN hired her in 2012 as the talk show, First Take, which ran for three years. After that, she hosted the program SportsCenter from 2015-2018.

Currently, Cari is the host of SportsNation, along with LZ Granderson and Marcellus Wiley.

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Is Cari Champion Married?    

The 44 years old is very secretive when it comes to her personal life. However, in 2014, she disclosed having a boyfriend through Twitter. While replying to the tweet of  Ryen Russillo in April 2015, she referred to him as her boyfriend. Well, it was obviously a joke, but the fans could not stop themselves from obsessing over the new ‘couple.’

Cari Champion post indicating  Ryen Russillo as her boyfriend

Image Source: Twitter @Cari Champion

Once there was also a huge rumor of her being in a relationship with Stephen A. Smith, but none of them confirmed their relationship.

Racist Tweet By Artie Lange 

The American comedian Artie Lange made a joke about having physical relations with Cari in November 2014, which was criticized widely. Later on, Artie made an apology regarding the comment. While speaking about the incident, Cari said that she never took the tweet as seriously and focused on her work only.

Controversy

The reporter Cari once had a controversy regarding her opinion about the NBA star, Kevin Durant. In her show, SportsCenter, the TV host listed the top five basketball players of the season, and she failed to include Durant in her list. Why didn’t she include his name? Well, because she thinks he doesn’t have a good heart.

In response to her comments, a fellow NBA player, Damian Lillard, tweeted a question asking where the media finds people like Cari.

What Inspired Cari Champion To Be A Journalist?

Cari Champion was born Cari Racquel Brooks on June 1, 1975, in Pasadena, California, to Dylan Champion and Mariah Champion. She grew up as the second child among two elder sisters and two younger brothers.

She was highly inspired to pursue journalism by UCLA alumni. Her main motive was to change the negative stereotypes of African Americans. She stated:

“I wanted to give people a voice that didn’t have a voice. I’m always fighting for the underdog. I don’t know where I got it from, but I’ve been like that all my life. That’s why I love journalism.”

She completed her graduation from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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