From the Sidelines to the World Stage Kaylee Hartung ’07 will cover two of the world’s premier sporting events during a single month.

By Brian Laubscher
January 30, 2026

When one of Kaylee Hartung ’07’s bosses at NBC casually mentioned to her that she would be working the Super Bowl, the Washington and Lee University alumna was left speechless.

“It was one of those moments where you don’t want to ask a follow-up question,” Hartung said. “You don’t want to be like, ‘Are you serious?’ I was like, ‘I think I just heard what I heard, but is that right?’”

The breathtaking news that Hartung would serve as one of two sideline reporters for Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 was confirmed via a phone call with NBC officials a few weeks later. Still, verification that she’d be covering the biggest single-day sporting event in the world didn’t seem real.

“I just didn’t believe it,” she said. “If I’m being totally honest, I was like, ‘Now I need to get the contract and then maybe it will feel like it’s really going to happen.’”

Once Hartung saw the official announcement in print a few weeks later, she could rest easy knowing she’d have the opportunity to live out one of her professional dreams.

“I’m in disbelief,” said Hartung, who majored in journalism and politics at W&L. “It still feels surreal. I think maybe when I’m holding the microphone in my hand on the field at Levi’s Stadium, and they’re singing the national anthem, and I’m seconds away from my first report — maybe then it will feel real. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it.”

Little did she know the Super Bowl wasn’t the only dream about to be realized.

Hartung, who doubles as a contributing correspondent with NBC News and the “Today” show in addition to serving as a sideline reporter for “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime, is receiving increased broadcasting opportunities through NBC Sports, the official home of the Olympics. She worked her first Olympic Games in Paris in summer 2024.

“I had an unconventional role for the last Olympics working a show on Peacock called ‘Watch with Alex Cooper,’” Hartung said.

The streaming program, hosted by the popular podcaster, offered real-time reactions and commentary of live events featuring Cooper and several guests, including Hartung, who described her Paris Olympic experience as “magical.”

In February, Hartung will cover freestyle skiing for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

Astonished to learn she’d be covering two of the world’s biggest sporting events in a single month, her first reaction was to ask, “Straight from the Super Bowl?” Hartung noted that she is one of many NBC employees pulling double duty.

“There are so many people in front of and behind the camera who are in the same position as I am,” she said. “It’s such a cool thing to share in that experience with them.”

The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the most watched television event in the country every year, with 2025’s game recording over 127 million viewers in the U.S. and nearly 200 million worldwide. This year’s game will be held on Sunday, Feb. 8, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The contest will feature the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots, champions of the AFC.

NBC’s coverage of the game will feature Mike Tirico on play-by-play and Cris Collinsworth as the color analyst. Hartung will handle the sideline reporting alongside veteran Melissa Stark, who will be working her second Super Bowl and first since 2003. Hartung will cover the Seahawks sideline, while Stark will patrol the Patriots sideline. This will be only the second time that NBC has deployed a two-reporter sideline setup for its Super Bowl coverage. The arrangement provides more comprehensive storytelling throughout the broadcast.

“As a sideline reporter, there’s a fear that you won’t be in the right place at the right time,” Hartung said. “No matter how much you prepare, if you just happen to be on the wrong sideline when the star quarterback gets hurt, and you’re not there to overhear conversations that are happening between the player, the athletic trainers and the coaches, you’re out of luck. The moment is gone.”

Hartung also noted that there is an incredible team backing her up during every broadcast. It includes her producer and Mike Ryan, a former NFL athletic trainer, who regularly works with her on “Thursday Night Football,” as well as with Stark on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” Ryan advises the sideline crew whenever medical issues arise.

And then there’s Hartung’s relationship with Stark, whom she’s looked up to since high school and now considers a great friend and colleague.

“The beauty of working this game with Melissa is that we know each other well,” Hartung said. “She attended the University of Virginia, and we hit it off right away due to our Virginia connection.”

The two have been having professional conversations for years and have worked four games together, including three NFL Divisional Round playoff games.

“We have had a lot of crossover in our production crews, and that’s the beauty of being able to work this game with her,” Hartung said. “We talk all the time about how fun it will be to split the sidelines and what a gift it is as a reporter to be able to just focus on your team.”

The sideline duo has already had discussions about their processes for the big game and how to organize the prep work, interview questions and the eventual interviews.

“These are conversations we’ve been having for four years, so it’s great that we’re not starting from scratch here,” Hartung said. “I’ve been grateful for her as a resource in so many ways.”

Hartung’s initial Super Bowl preparation began by watching the AFC and NFC championship games on Jan. 25, something she regularly does in advance of the game she’s covering that week. Ever the multitasker, she analyzed the two games from a hotel room in Los Angeles while preparing to interview actors Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi the following day for a “Today” show segment on their new film, “Wuthering Heights.”

No stranger to a hectic schedule, Hartung leaves for San Francisco on Saturday, Jan. 31, and returns to her New York City home on Feb. 23. In between will be an exhilarating, and no doubt tiring, 23-day stretch.

Super Bowl Week

Official Super Bowl activities begin on Monday, Feb. 2, with the Super Bowl opening night, but Hartung’s dual roles in the media world will cross with an interview on Sunday, Feb. 1. Her travels to the San Francisco area conveniently allow for a sit-down interview with NBA legend Steph Curry, which will air soon on “Today.”

Monday opening night is traditionally viewed as a media event, whereas media members can approach any player from the two participating teams. It will be the first opportunity for Hartung to begin forming her storylines for the big game. She and Stark will both attend each team’s practices and media sessions throughout the week, meeting with head coaches and selected players. The entire production team will participate in several meetings throughout the week, culminating in a final meeting on Saturday, when they’ll select the stories they’ll focus on for the broadcast.

“The challenge that I feel in preparing for these games is that you have all of these meetings and conversations where you are gathering all of this information and research — and then, at some point, you have to take a step back and distill it,” Hartung said. “You have to make sense of it and organize your thoughts so that when a game breaks out, you’re prepared for whatever happens.”

Regardless of how prepared she’ll be for the biggest game of her life, Hartung will need to overcome the nerves that happen every time the red light turns on the camera for a live event.

“There hasn’t been a game where I haven’t been nervous, and this will be the biggest event I’ve covered … but I think nerves are actually healthy,” she said. “I think it just reminds your body that you care, and if I didn’t get nervous, I think that might be a little unsettling to me.”

Hartung said there’s an energy that courses through the stadium just prior to kickoff and that she uses a time-honored tradition to remain grounded.

“My first report is typically right before kickoff, and the national anthem always serves as my calming mechanism,” she said. “I always try to be present in that moment and put my hand over my heart and soak in that moment and remember how special it is to be a part of it.”

The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics

The Olympic Games also rank among the most watched television events in the world, with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics reaching a global audience of over 2 billion viewers. NBC will provide exclusive coverage in the U.S., which produced a viewership of more than 160 million for the last Winter Games.

This year’s Olympics commence on Wednesday, Feb. 4, and run through Sunday, Feb. 22. The opening ceremony will take place on Friday, Feb. 6. A total of 116 medaling events will be held across 16 disciplines hosted by 15 different venues spread across northern Italy, making the Milano Cortina Games the most geographically widespread Winter Olympics in history.

For her part, Hartung will report from the freestyle skiing venue located in Livigno, a small town in the Italian Alps located near the Swiss border. She expects to depart San Francisco not long after the Super Bowl finishes, around 1 a.m., and will land in Milan around 9 p.m. local time on Monday, Feb. 9. Her first order of business upon arriving will be to staff the “Today” show at 7 a.m. the following morning, followed by a four-hour drive to Livigno.

Hartung will provide commentary for the aerials and mogul events, which run from Feb. 10 to Feb. 22.

Though she is versed in a variety of broadcast disciplines, the Olympics will present the unique challenge of building chemistry with an unfamiliar broadcast team and covering sports for which she is somewhat unfamiliar. Her broadcast team includes former Olympian and veteran play-by-play commentator Trace Worthington, with 2010 Olympic gold medalist Hannah Kearney providing analysis.

“I have such an incredible relationship with all the guys I work with on NFL games,” Hartung said. “I know their cadences and how to pick up the stories that the broadcast team seems to care about the most. But for the Olympics, I’ll be working with broadcasters that I’ve never met before. Chemistry on a broadcast is real, and I’ll be curious to see how we build that in real time to get the right rhythm of the broadcast. That’s kind of the interesting challenge from a production standpoint.”

Then there’s the challenge of working events she’s never worked before, something she’s very much looking forward to experiencing.

“I feel like there’s going to be a vibe, kind of an X Games, extreme sports vibe that is going to make it a ton of fun,” she said. “All of the events are high-flying and adrenaline fueled — it’s exciting to be somewhere where you can’t deny what you’re watching is absolutely spectacular. Those moments, such as when your breath is literally taken away by what an athlete is doing flying through the air, need to be honored.”

Hartung’s calling card of telling the human stories behind the performances is something she’ll rely on heavily for her Olympic assignment.

“I am not yet an expert on aerials and moguls, but I’ll soon be an expert on the athletes,” she said. “The baseline for me is that this will require the same skillset as an NFL game. It’s all about honoring the athletes and telling the stories behind their amazing performances.”

What’s Next?

Living out of a suitcase on two continents for a period of 23 days is enough to overwhelm any seasoned traveler, let alone someone experiencing their dreams coming true. When asked what’s next on the professional bucket list, Hartung focused on what’s right in front of her.

“Being honest, it’s a hard thing for me to consider at this moment in time. Whether we are talking about the Super Bowl or ‘Today,’ I’m living the dreams that I had as a kid, and that’s not lost on me,” she said. “I think I’m just trying to be present in this moment — just be where my feet are and crush it. And then, we’ll see what happens next.”

Some well-deserved vacation time is what will immediately follow; she’s already requested a week off from “Today” after returning from Livigno.

“The funny thing is, being that I’ll be in Italy, you’d think I’d be considering what kind of vacation I could tack on the back end, already being in Europe,” she said. “But being on the road for a month, I think all I want to do is go home. I think that will be the best kind of vacation I could ask for.”

Read more about Hartung’s career journey and what drives her as a journalist in “Working Overtime” from the summer 2024 issue of the W&L Magazine.

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