Michele Tafoya to Co-Chair Minnesota Governor Campaign After NBC Sports Departure

Michele Tafoya worked her 327th, and final, NFL game as a sideline reporter on Sunday during Super Bowl LVI, a contest in which the Rams beat the Bengals, 23–20. 

The day after the Super Bowl, The Athletic's Richard Deitsch published an interview with Tafoya, in which the now-former NBC Sports broadcaster shared what she plans to do in the next stage of her career.

Tafoya told The Athletic she will be the co-chair of a political campaign for businessman and Army veteran Kendall Qualls, who announced in January he is running as a Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota. Though it is unclear in what capacity Tafoya will serve, she will also appear at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) in late February. 

She added that her long-term goal is to be part of a daily or weekly program where she discusses politics and other topics beyond sports.

“I got to a point in my life where I wanted to try other things, and there are some things that are really important to me,“ Tafoya told The Athletic. ”This is not to say that sports isn’t an important field, that my job isn’t an important job. But in my position, I was not as free to be as vocal about world events that I’m concerned about. It’s not because I was told to shut up. I want to be very clear about that. But look, if you’re on a show like Sunday Night Football, which is the No. 1 show in prime time for 11 straight years, unprecedented, the last thing they want to do is invite controversy.”

In early January, NBC Sports officially announced Tafoya was leaving the network. A four-time Sports Emmy winner, she had taken multiple weeks off this past season, and, in November, appeared on ABC’s The View talk show for two days.

NBC Sports' NFL broadcast could also see additional changes as longtime play-by-play announcer Al Michaels has been rumored to be joining Amazon to call Thursday Night Football beginning next season.