Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson went there.
During the latest installment of their “Calm Down” podcast, the Fox Sports veteran broadcasters discussed how things can get tricky when mixing business with pleasure in the sports world.
“I have dated athletes, but never anyone that I was covering at the time,” Thompson said. “So I don’t know, it feels like a tricky situation.”
Thompson, 41, said she dated someone she worked with while at ESPN.
“It wasn’t a superior, like we were equal because obviously then that’s a whole other thing,” she said. “You can’t date your boss.”
Andrews — who welcomed son Mack via surrogate with her husband, former NHL star Jarret Stoll, over the summer — said dating a professional athlete is “looked down upon” in their line of work.
“I think it depends on what your job is,” Andrews, 45, said. “It’s hard because in an everyday job, say if you were a contractor. I don’t know if it is as looked down upon as it is in our world.
“It kinda sucks, there is always this preconceived notion. It just sucks.”
Thompson added she “didn’t date an athlete for the longest time because of that exact thing.”
“It was like, ‘Oh, that’s the only reason you’re doing this job because you want to date the athlete.’ No, it’s actually a good freakin job, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and you make great money,” she said.
Thompson, who didn’t name names when discussing her dating past, went through a public divorce with sports agent Kyle Thousand in 2022 after two years of marriage.
The “Thursday Night Football” personality is currently dating Steven Cundari, the co-founder of Summit House, a full-service creative marketing and advertising agency.
Andrews and Stoll tied the knot in Montana in June 2017, six months after they got engaged while on a trip to Disneyland in December 2016.
The recent chatter about dating professional athletes comes after Andrews and Thompson shut down speculation they were “throwing game” at Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“Somebody tweeted us, and I don’t know if you saw it, being like, ‘Don’t be sad Travis, especially when you have Erin and Charissa throwing game at you,’” Andrews said during a recent episode of their “Calm Down” podcast. “We are not throwing game at him.”
“He’s like our brother at this point, my God,” Thompson added.
In the episode, Andrews and Thompson began hyping up Kelce as they discussed him shooting his shot with Taylor Swift.
Thompson is entering her 16th year covering the NFL and will return as the host of “Fox NFL Kickoff,” the Sunday morning pregame show leading into “Fox NFL Sunday” — as well as “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video.
Andrews will return to the sideline as Fox Sports’ top reporter this fall, working alongside Kevin Burkhardt and former NFL tight end Greg Olsen.
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