Sarah Spain

Spain was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Lake Forest, Illinois.

In 1998, as a senior at Lake Forest High School, Spain was the MVP and captain of her track and field, field hockey and basketball teams.{{cite web | title=Title IX 40 for 40: Sarah Spain | work=ivyleaguesports.com | url=http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/history/title_ix/Sarah_Spain |accessdate=}}{{cite web |title=His & Hers: Finding Your Voice: 12/17/15 |work=ESPN.Go.com |url=https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/14390840 | access-date= December 17, 2015}}{{cite web |title=Glory Days with Lake Forest High School Athlete Sarah Spain |work=patch.com |date=October 26, 2011 |url=https://patch.com/illinois/lakeforest/glory-days-with-lake-forest-athlete-sarah-spain}} Spain attended Cornell University, where she majored in English. She was a heptathlete on the Cornell Big Red track and field team, for which she was co-captain her senior year.{{cite web |title=Sarah Spain's Website |work=sarahspain.com |url=http://sarahspain.com/about/ | accessdate= December 18, 2015}}

Spain first gained widespread attention in 2007 when she made a post on eBay offering to be someone's "date" to Super Bowl XLI, in which the Chicago Bears played the Indianapolis Colts. She was living in Los Angeles at the time and, expecting to go to the game with friends, had purchased a plane ticket to Miami. However, her friends decided they couldn't afford to go, leaving Spain solo and without a game ticket. She described the auction as a stunt to get media attention, with the hope that a company would try to gain publicity by sponsoring her attendance at the Super Bowl. Word of the auction reached Unilever, the makers of Axe Body Spray, who covered Spain's costs to attend the game and in turn began a media campaign to "see how many guys would do the same thing for a chance to see their team play."{{cite web|url=http://www.jeffpearlman.com/the-quaz-qa-sarah-spain/|title=Sarah Spain - Jeff Pearlman|website=www.jeffpearlman.com|date=May 22, 2013 }}

Spain states that criticisms of the Super Bowl stunt misinterpret both her actions and motives.{{cite web|url=http://sarahspain.com/im-mad-as-hell-im-not-going-to-take-this-anymore/|title=Sarah Spain » I'm Mad As Hell & I'm Not Going To Take This Anymore|website=sarahspain.com}}

Before joining ESPN, Spain worked for Fox Sports Net, MouthpieceSports.com, ChicagoNow.com and was the recurring guest-host of WGN's radio show called ChicagoNow Radio. Spain also worked as a sideline reporter for the Big Ten Network and hosted the Coors Light Fantasy Players Minute. She was one of the original co-hosts of the WGN-TV show Chicago's Best, with Ted Brunson and Brittney Payton. She joined ESPN 1000 in Chicago in 2010 and signed on as a writer for espnW.com in October of the same year.

On January 23, 2015, ESPN announced that it was launching a new radio show called Spain & Prim with Spain and anchor Prim Siripipat as the co-hosts.{{cite web |title=Two women are bringing down the last old boys club with the help of ESPN |work=USA Today |date=January 23, 2015 |url=http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/01/espn-radio-sarah-spain-prim-siripipat |accessdate=January 23, 2015}} In January 2016, Spain, Jane McManus and Kate Fagan launched a new national ESPN Radio show, The Trifecta, and Spain launched her own ESPN podcast, That's What She Said. Spain has appeared on a variety of ESPN television shows, including: His & Hers (formerly Numbers Never Lie), Olbermann, Mike & Mike, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, First Take, The Sports Reporters, "Highly Questionable" and Outside The Lines. On February 25, 2016, Spain made her first appearance on ESPN's Around the Horn. In September 2016, Spain inked a new multi-year deal with ESPN and launched a national ESPN Radio show, Izzy & Spain, with co-host Israel Gutierrez.{{cite web|url=http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2016/09/espn-signs-espnw-writer-espn-radio-host-sarah-spain-multiyear-extension/|title=ESPN Signs espnW Writer and ESPN Radio Host Sarah Spain to Multiyear Extension - ESPN MediaZone|website=espnmediazone.com|date=September 20, 2016 }} In 2017, she hosted Fantasy Football Island with Mike Golic Jr.{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/ct-espn-fantasy-football-marathon-20170811-story.html|title=ESPN pushes expanded fantasy football coverage with 28-hour marathon|first=Phil|last=Rosenthal|website=Chicago Tribune |date=August 11, 2017 |publisher=}}

In 2018, Spain and co-host Jason Fitz (a former member of The Band Perry) launched the national radio show Spain & Fitz. In 2019, Fitz moved to mornings, and the show (with rotating co-hosts) was renamed Spain & Company.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/186602/jason-fitz-moves-to-espn-radio-mornings-with-golic|title=Jason Fitz Moves To ESPN Radio Mornings With 'Golic & Wingo,' Sarah Spain Continues In Evening Slot|website=All Access|language=en|access-date=2019-10-10}} In August 2020, Fitz returned as co-host of the evening broadcast, again known as Spain & Fitz.{{cite web |url=https://espnpressroom.com/us/bios/jason-fitz/ |title=Jason Fitz |website=ESPN Press Room U.S. |accessdate=April 11, 2022}} The Spain & Fitz show ended on December 1, 2022.{{Cite web |last=Keeley |first=Sean |date=2022-11-23 |title=Sarah Spain says Spain & Fitz is ending but she's 'sticking around' ESPN |url=https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/sarah-spain-fitz-radio-ending.html |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=Awful Announcing |language=en-US}}

On March 1, 2021, the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League announced that Spain had joined the women's soccer team's ownership group.{{cite press release |url=https://www.chicagoredstars.com/post/chicago-red-stars-introduce-groundbreaking-new-ownership-group |title=Chicago Red Stars Introduce Groundbreaking New Ownership Group |date=March 1, 2021 |access-date=August 24, 2022 |publisher=Chicago Red Stars}}{{cite press release |url=https://www.chicagoredstars.com/why-i-believe |title=Why I Believe |access-date=August 24, 2022 |publisher=Chicago Red Stars}}{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/soccer/ct-chicago-red-stars-investors-owners-20210301-itq5eygtfvectj7fhyndxv4ohm-story.html |title=Chicago Red Stars have an expanded ownership group — including Israel Idonije and Kendall Coyne Schofield — as they look to increase revenue and drive growth with new investors |date=March 1, 2021 |access-date=August 24, 2022 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |first=Jeremy |last=Mikula}} She was bought out when Laura Ricketts' investor group purchased the team in September 2023. {{cite web |title=Chicago Red Stars purchased by Laura Ricketts-led group of investors for $60 million |url=https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/soccer/chicago-red-stars/chicago-red-stars-purchased-by-laura-ricketts-led-group-of-investors-for-60-million/504614/ |website=NBC Sports Chicago |date=September 2023 |access-date=16 September 2023}}{{cite web |title=A Note about the Red Stars |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0OmOFuu3y/?img_index=1 |website=Instagram}} In early 2025 Spain become an investor in USL W League club Minnesota Aurora FC, and she and her "Good Game with Sarah Spain" listeners helped the Aurora raise $830,000 during the women’s soccer team’s second round of community ownership fundraising.

Spain launched the first and only daily women's sports podcast, "Good Game with Sarah Spain" in July 2024. The show was nominated for "Best Sports Podcast" at the 2025 Ambies Awards for Excellence in Audio, and Spain was honored at the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards with the Social Impact Award for her work championing equity in sports coverage, equal pay for female athletes, and investment in women's sports. Spain also does thrice-daily women's sports reports for all 500 national iHeart radio stations. In June of 2025 Spain's first book, "Runs In The Family," was released via Simon & Schuster, co-written with Raiders running backs coach Deland McCullough.

In 2016, Spain, along with Chicago sports radio host Julie DiCaro, appeared in a video entitled "More Than Mean," in which unsuspecting, ordinary men read real, degrading tweets directed to Spain and DiCaro to them while sitting face-to-face.{{cite web|url=https://mashable.com/2016/04/26/more-than-mean-women-reporters-harassment/#QDw5ADnRluqy|publisher=Mashable|title=More than mean: Powerful video highlights harassment of women in sports media|last=Laird|first=Sam|date=April 26, 2016|accessdate=February 23, 2018}} The video was meant to highlight the sexual harassment, unjust criticism, rape threats, and death threats that female sportscasters face online simply for doing their jobs.{{cite web|url=https://thinkprogress.org/more-than-mean-roundtable-female-sportswriters-speak-up-about-online-harassment-102c0b31aff9/|publisher=ThinkProgress|last=Gibbs|first=Lindsay|title='More Than Mean' Roundtable: Female Sportswriters Speak Up About Online Harassment|date=May 3, 2016|accessdate=February 23, 2018}} The four-minute video, produced by Just Not Sports and One Tree Forest Films, won a 2016 Peabody Award in the Public Service category.{{cite web|url=https://news.uga.edu/news-public-service-radio-podcast-and-web-winners-round-out-the-peabod/|publisher=UGA Today|title=News, Public Service, Radio/Podcast, and Web winners round out the Peabody 30|last=Blanchard|first=Margaret|date=April 25, 2017|accessdate=February 23, 2018}}

• Crain's Chicago 40 Under 40 (2017)
• Peabody Award (2017)
• Gracie Awards (2016, 2017)
• Sports Clio Grand Award (2016)
• Deadline Club Award (2018)
• Sports Emmy Awards (2018, 2018)
• Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting (2019)
• iHeartPodcast Awards Social Impact Award (2025)

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|2458825}}
• [http://www.cornellbigred.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=24460 Cornell University 2001-02 Women's Track and Field bio]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IskAs6nmhj4 One on One with Sarah Spain - Cornell Alumni Association]
• [https://www.facebook.com/spain2323 Sarah Spain's profile] on Facebook
• [https://twitter.com/SarahSpain Sarah Spain's profile] on Twitter

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Category:1980 births

Category:Living people

Category:American sports radio personalities

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:ESPN people

Category:Sportspeople from Chicago

Category:Sportspeople from Cleveland

Category:American women sports journalists

Category:American sports journalists

Category:People from Lake Forest, Illinois

Category:Lake Forest High School (Illinois) alumni

Category:Chicago Red Stars owners