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Kaylee Hartung (American Broadcast Journalist)
Kaylee Hartung’s age is 40 years old — a milestone that arrives mid-stride for one of American broadcast journalism’s most versatile and widely recognized figures. Born on November 7, 1985, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Hartung has spent nearly two decades building a career that moves fluidly between hard-breaking news and live professional sports broadcasting, a combination that very few journalists in American television manage to sustain simultaneously.
She currently holds dual roles. By week, she serves as a national correspondent for NBC’s Today Show, based in Los Angeles, California. On Thursday nights during the NFL season, she works the sidelines of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video, reporting live alongside some of the biggest names in sports broadcasting. The range of that workload alone sets her apart.
Her credentials carry weight. Hartung is an Emmy-nominated journalist recognized for on-the-ground coverage of some of the most consequential moments in recent American public life — including the Charlottesville rally, the Parkland school shooting, and the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Seattle. Before stepping into hard news at CNN and ABC, she earned two Lone Star Emmy Awards during her tenure at ESPN, where she reported for the SEC Network and the Longhorn Network.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Politics from Washington and Lee University, and she began her professional life at CBS News working directly under veteran anchor Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation — a starting point that shaped the exacting, authoritative style she carries to this day.
| Full Name | Kaylee Ann Hartung |
| Date of Birth | November 7, 1985 |
| Place of Birth | Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Broadcast Journalist, National Correspondent, NFL Sideline Reporter |
| Employer | NBC News / Today Show; Amazon Prime Video / Thursday Night Football |
| Education | B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and Politics, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia (2007); Episcopal High School, Baton Rouge (2003) |
| Career Start | CBS News Washington Bureau — Associate Producer, Face the Nation; Assistant to anchor Bob Schieffer |
| Current Role | National Correspondent — NBC News / Today Show; NFL Sideline Reporter — Thursday Night Football, Amazon Prime Video |
| Notable Coverage | Charlottesville Rally (2017), Parkland School Shooting, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma & Florence, COVID-19 Seattle Outbreak, Super Bowl LX |
| Marital Status | Not married (not publicly confirmed) |
| Children | None confirmed publicly |
| Awards | Two Lone Star Emmy Awards (ESPN); Emmy Nomination — Outstanding Breaking News Coverage (Charlottesville); Sports Emmy Nomination — Outstanding Sports Personality/Sideline Reporter |
| Estimated Net Worth | ~$3.2 million (estimated; not officially confirmed) |
| Salary | CNN: ~$1.3 million/year (reported); Amazon TNF: estimated $74,629–$102,728 annually; NBC: not publicly disclosed |
| Siblings | Tyler Hartung (brother; corporate contract pilot, BTR Air Charter and Management, Baton Rouge) |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Who is Kaylee Hartung?
Kaylee Hartung is an American broadcast journalist born on November 7, 1985, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is 40 years old and currently serves as a national correspondent for NBC’s Today Show and the sideline reporter for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video.
Early Life and Education
Kaylee Hartung was born on November 7, 1985, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana — a city whose deep-rooted sports culture, anchored by Louisiana State University, would quietly shape the direction of her professional life. She grew up in the heart of Louisiana, and by her own account, the energy surrounding LSU athletics was a constant presence in her upbringing.
Childhood and Family Background
Her family background carries both pride and profound loss. Her father, Joe Hartung, was a professional pilot, businessman, and veteran who had served in the Royal Netherlands Air Force. He owned the Baton Rouge Jet Center and co-owned Aerial Solutions Inc., building a respected name in Louisiana’s aviation community. Tragically, he died in a plane crash in May 1996 while performing at the Sertoma Cajun Air Festival in Lafayette, Louisiana — an event witnessed by Hartung, her mother, and her brother. She was ten years old.
Her mother, Julie Tucker, worked at the Tiger Athletic Foundation, the athletic support program affiliated with Louisiana State University. Hartung’s brother, Tyler Hartung, followed a path connected to their father’s legacy and currently works as a corporate contract pilot at BTR Air Charter and Management in Baton Rouge.
Educational Journey
According to her official biography published by ABC News, Hartung completed her secondary education at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge before pursuing higher education at Washington and Lee University — a private liberal arts institution in Lexington, Virginia. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism and Politics. Her first professional foothold came through a summer internship with NBC News, an experience that directed her toward CBS News and the start of a career that would span multiple major American broadcast networks.
Career
Kaylee Hartung’s career answers a question many journalists spend decades trying to solve — how to be equally credible covering a hurricane and a football game. Her professional path spans CBS News political bureaus, ESPN college sports sidelines, CNN breaking news assignments, ABC News feature reporting, and a current dual role at NBC News and Amazon Prime Video that represents the fullest expression of her range.
Early Career — From CBS Intern to ESPN Sideline Reporter
Hartung entered broadcast journalism through one of its most demanding front doors. She began her career in CBS News’ Washington bureau, working as an associate producer on Face the Nation and serving as a personal assistant to the program’s longtime host, Bob Schieffer — one of the most respected figures in American television journalism. The role was foundational.
She contributed directly to Schieffer’s research teams during the 2008 and 2012 presidential debates, gaining experience in political journalism at the highest level. She also produced, photographed, and edited her own reports for CBSNews.com and hosted Washington Unplugged, a daily digital show for the network. She spent five years at CBS in total.
Her next move was a deliberate turn toward sports. She joined ESPN, hosting Longhorn Extra on the Longhorn Network before becoming a sideline reporter for SEC Nation on the SEC Network — a high-profile college football preview show where she worked alongside former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, among others.
The role cemented her identity as a credible sports voice. During her time at ESPN, she earned two Lone Star Emmy Awards: one for a feature story on University of Texas super fan Brandon Puente, and one for hosting a Women’s History Month special on the Longhorn Network. In April 2017, she made a deliberate decision to leave sports and prove herself in hard news, departing ESPN for CNN.
CNN, ABC News, and Amazon Prime Video
As reported by CNN at the time of her appointment, Hartung joined the network as a correspondent in April 2017, and her first major assignment set the tone for everything that followed. She was on the ground in Charlottesville, Virginia, reporting live during the deadly white nationalist rally — one of the most heavily covered domestic news events of that period.
From there, she covered the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and reported on the destruction caused by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Florence across the southeastern United States. She also covered wildfires in Malibu and Paradise, California, and followed Georgia’s closely contested gubernatorial race between Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams as part of CNN’s 2018 midterm election coverage.
In 2019, she transitioned to ABC News as a correspondent based in Los Angeles, reporting across all of the network’s major platforms — Good Morning America, World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline, and ABC News Live. In March 2020, she was among the first journalists covering the COVID-19 outbreak in Seattle when she contracted the virus herself. She later donated plasma as part of recovery research efforts. During her ABC tenure, she also conducted interviews with high-profile figures including Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and actress Natalie Portman, demonstrating the breadth of her reporting range.
She departed ABC News in July 2022. That same month, Amazon Prime Video announced her as the sideline reporter for Thursday Night Football — a return to sports broadcasting that paired her with play-by-play anchor Al Michaels and analyst Kirk Herbstreit. She covered the full NFL season in that role, working the sidelines of a broadcast that represented one of the most significant shifts in sports media rights in recent American television history.
Current Role — NBC Today Show and Thursday Night Football
Hartung currently holds two concurrent positions that together define the shape of her career. In January 2023, she joined NBC News as a national correspondent for The Today Show, based in Los Angeles, California. The role keeps her in daily news coverage, reporting across NBC News platforms on breaking stories, features, and major events. Simultaneously, she continues her work as the NFL sideline reporter for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video — making her one of a small number of American journalists operating at a senior level in both network news and live professional sports broadcasting at the same time.
Her NBC Sports commitments extend beyond the regular season. She has contributed to NFL playoff coverage, including Wild Card Weekend, where she has worked alongside broadcasters Al Michaels and Tony Dungy. She covered the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, as part of NBC Sports’ international assignments. Most recently, she served as a sideline reporter at Super Bowl LX, held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California — her first Super Bowl assignment and a milestone that reflects the trajectory of her network sports career.
Major Achievements and Awards
Across a career that has moved between political bureaus, disaster zones, sports sidelines, and network morning television, Hartung has accumulated a record of professional recognition that reflects consistent quality rather than a single defining moment.
During her time at ESPN, she earned two Lone Star Emmy Awards for feature reporting and special programming. Her pivot to CNN brought industry-level recognition of a different kind — she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage for her on-the-ground reporting during the Charlottesville rally, one of the most closely covered and editorially demanding assignments of her news career. The nomination placed her among journalists recognized for courage and accuracy under significant pressure.
More recently, her work on Thursday Night Football earned her a Sports Emmy nomination for Outstanding Sports Personality/Sideline Reporter — her first solo nomination in that category. As noted by Columns magazine, the Washington and Lee University alumni publication, she was nominated alongside reporters who had worked the sports sidelines considerably longer than she had, a detail that underscored the weight of the recognition. She has also served as a presenter at the Annual Sports Emmy Awards, marking her standing within the professional sports broadcasting community.
Net Worth and Salary
Few broadcast journalists sustain the kind of career arc that Kaylee Hartung has built — moving across CBS News, ESPN, CNN, ABC News, Amazon Prime Video, and NBC News over the course of nearly two decades. That trajectory naturally raises questions about her earnings. While exact figures remain largely outside the public record, several third-party sources have published estimates based on industry benchmarks and reported network contracts.
Salary figures are estimates drawn from publicly available third-party sources and have not been officially confirmed by Kaylee Hartung or her employers.
Salary Details
Hartung’s salary history reflects both her seniority and the caliber of networks she has worked for. During her tenure at CNN, multiple entertainment and media outlets reported her annual earnings at approximately $1.3 million per year — a figure consistent with senior correspondent compensation at a major American cable news network.
Her current income draws from multiple streams. She holds a national correspondent role at NBC’s Today Show, contributes to NBC Sports coverage during the NFL postseason, and continues her position as sideline reporter for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video. Her Amazon salary has been estimated by third-party sources at between $74,629 and $102,728 annually, though that figure has not been officially confirmed. Her NBC compensation has not been publicly disclosed by the network or by Hartung herself.
Net Worth Estimate
Based on publicly available reporting, Kaylee Hartung’s net worth is estimated at approximately $3.2 million. That figure reflects earnings accumulated across nearly two decades of continuous employment at some of the most prominent broadcast organizations in the United States — including CBS News, ESPN, CNN, ABC News, Amazon Prime Video, and NBC News. Her wealth is derived entirely from her journalism and broadcasting career. No confirmed sponsorship arrangements or endorsement deals are on public record.
Personal Life and Family
Kaylee Hartung has built one of the more visible careers in American broadcast journalism, yet she has kept her personal life almost entirely outside the public record. What is known comes either from her own rare disclosures or from verified reporting — and she has been consistent in drawing a clear line between the two.
Husband / Partner
Kaylee Hartung is not married, according to all publicly available records. She has never confirmed a long-term partner or spouse in any interview, official biography, or public statement. The closest she has come to acknowledging a relationship was a passing reference on social media in 2013, in which she mentioned a boyfriend in passing — without naming him or elaborating further. His identity was never disclosed and has not been reported by any credible source since.
Rumors linking her romantically to former NFL quarterback and SEC Nation colleague Tim Tebow have circulated for years. Neither Hartung nor Tebow has ever confirmed any romantic connection between them. Tebow is currently married to South African model Demi-Leigh Tebow.
On the subject of her personal choices, Hartung has been more forthcoming in one specific area. She openly discussed her decision to freeze her eggs at age 35, sharing the experience in an appearance on the podcast Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce. She described the decision as a response to both her age and the unusual stillness of the pandemic period, when reduced travel gave her time to reflect on where she was in life. Beyond that disclosure, she maintains strict privacy around her personal relationships, and that boundary has been consistent throughout her public career.
Children
Kaylee Hartung has no confirmed children. No credible reporting or official source has indicated otherwise. Her public discussion of freezing her eggs addressed the decision as a personal and professional one made during the COVID-19 pandemic, when her work schedule temporarily slowed. She has not made any further public statements regarding family planning, and no additional information on the subject is available in the public record.
FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About Kaylee Hartung
Key questions answered about the NBC Today Show correspondent and Amazon Prime Video NFL sideline reporter
Born Kaylee Ann Hartung on November 7, 1985, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she has built a career spanning CBS News, ESPN, CNN, ABC News, Amazon Prime Video, and NBC News. She is an Emmy-nominated journalist recognized for her coverage of the Charlottesville rally and has earned two Lone Star Emmy Awards during her tenure at ESPN.
She has maintained strict privacy around her personal relationships throughout her career. A passing reference to a boyfriend appeared on her social media in 2013, but the individual was never identified. Rumors linking her to former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow have circulated for years; neither party has ever confirmed any romantic connection. Tebow is currently married to South African model Demi-Leigh Tebow.
She holds American citizenship by birth. Her ethnicity is widely reported as White across multiple third-party sources, though this has not been formally confirmed by Hartung herself. Any unverified ethnicity claims from unofficial websites should be treated with caution.
Hartung has publicly discussed her decision to freeze her eggs at age 35, sharing the experience on the podcast Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce. She described it as both a personal and professional choice made during the COVID-19 pandemic. No further information regarding her family planning is available in the public record.
This estimate reflects nearly two decades of employment across some of the most prominent broadcast organizations in the United States, including CBS News, ESPN, CNN, ABC News, Amazon Prime Video, and NBC News. No confirmed sponsorship or endorsement deals are on public record. This figure is a third-party estimate and has not been officially confirmed by Kaylee Hartung.
She is based in Los Angeles, California. In addition to her Today Show role, she contributes to NBC Sports' NFL coverage, including Wild Card Weekend and postseason broadcasts. She has also covered the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, for NBC Sports, and reported from Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium — her first Super Bowl assignment.
Before university, she completed her secondary education at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, graduating in 2003. Her professional career began through a summer internship with NBC News, which led directly to her first full-time role at CBS News in Washington, D.C.
During her tenure at CNN, multiple third-party sources reported her annual earnings at approximately $1.3 million per year. Her Amazon Prime Video Thursday Night Football role carries an estimated annual salary of $74,629 to $102,728, according to publicly available industry estimates. Her NBC Today Show compensation has not been reported. All salary figures are third-party estimates only and have not been officially confirmed by Kaylee Hartung or her employers.
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