Charissa Thompson’s admission of fabricating sideline reports draws ire

As a longtime NFL studio host, Charissa Thompson has the gift of gab. But she used it poorly when she was a sideline reporter about 15 years ago. This week on the podcast “Pardon My Take,” Thompson admitted to making up reports if she had nothing to report.

“I’ve said this before,” said Thompson, who discussed this two years ago on her own podcast but not to this extent. “I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again. I would make up the report sometimes, because, A, the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime, or it was too late and I didn’t want to screw up the report. So I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make this up.’

“Because, first of all, no coach is gonna get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over and do a better job of getting off the field.’ They’re not gonna correct me on that. So I’m like, it’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.”

Thompson hosts “Fox NFL Kickoff,” the lead-in to “Fox NFL Sunday,” and “TNF Tonight,” Prime Video’s pregame show for “Thursday Night Football.” She was a sideline reporter from 2007 to 2009 for the NFL on Fox and Big Ten Network.

The comments caused a firestorm on social media among current sideline reporters who felt disparaged, and rightly so. They often are the eyes and ears of the broadcast booth and production truck given their proximity to the action. Many times, their contributions go unnoticed by viewers, but with their access, they can have a huge impact on the broadcast.

“THE privilege of a sideline role is being the 1 person in the entire world who has the opportunity to ask coaches what’s happening in that moment,” Fox sideline reporter Laura Okmin posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “I can’t express the amount of time it takes to build that trust. Devastated w/the texts I’m getting asking if this is ok. No. Never.”

ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath posted: “Young reporters: This is not normal or ethical. Coaches and players trust us with sensitive information, and if they know that you’re dishonest and don’t take your role seriously, you’ve lost all trust and credibility.”