Suzette Maria Taylor is an American sportscaster for NBC Sports. She has worked for ESPN and the SEC Network. She has covered college football, college volleyball, National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and men’s and women’s college basketball.
In 2020, ESPN reportedly offered to increase Taylor’s $1 million annual salary to $5 million, which she turned down. Taylor left the network the day after the 2021 NBA Finals concluded on July 20. Taylor joined NBC Sports and made her on-air debut for the network during coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics on July 23.
In the 2021 NFL season, Taylor joined NBC’s Sunday Night Football pre-game show Football Night in America as a panellist. In May 2022, it was announced that Taylor would replace Mike Tirico as the lead host of the program. Taylor served as the host for the men’s and women’s semi-finals and finals during NBC’s coverage of the 2022 French Open.
What is Maria Taylor’s salary at NBC?
Previously Maria was earning $1 million with ESPN, then the cable network decided to triple her contract, but she rejected it. ESPN then came forward with a revised contract of $ 5 million, which she again rejected because she wanted to be paid similar to what Stephen A. Smith was making at ESPN, which is $ 8 million.
The two parties couldn’t go through with the negotiations, and after eight years with ESPN, Maria left the company and joined NBC.
Though NBC might not have given Maria her desired $ 8 million, they certainly provided the host with more than $5 million. Right after joining NBC, Maria covered the Tokyo Olympics and joined NBC’s Sunday Night Football pre-game show Football Night in America as a panellist.
In 2022, Maria covered the men’s and women’s final and semi-final matches at French Open. She also replaced Mike Tirico as the lead host of the program as Mike moved to cover the play-by-play position for Sunday Night Football.