Katie Nolan Is Out At ESPN, Tweets Goodbye To Her Fans

Katie Nolan, a one-time rising star at ESPN after being lured from Fox Sports, announced today online that she’s leaving the sports network.

“I’ve thought about sending this tweet for weeks and I still have no clue how to make it not make you all roll your eyes,” Nolan wrote on Twitter. “Alas: the obvious thing has happened. I no longer work at ESPN. I’m really grateful for my time here. I made incredible friendships and valuable mistakes.”

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Nolan seemed to be on a rocket toward sports stardom when she left Fox in 2016 to move to ESPN. She received a hefty raise for the move and reportedly topped $1 million per year.

But despite lots of attention, Nolan’s star never really shined at ESPN. She hosted a podcast titled Sports? and a TV show called Always Late, which ran on ESPN+ and later ESPN2. Both featured Nolan’s sometimes salty commentary.

Nolan re-signed with ESPN in 2020, but Always Late was canceled a year later.

“We thank Katie for her contributions to ESPN and wish her luck in the future,” ESPN said in a statement

At her leave-taking, Nolan, 34, was still a contributor to Highly Questionable. That show was itself canceled this month as part of the shuffle that saw Max Kellerman leave Stephen A. Smith’s First Take. Kellerman now hosts This Just In.

“This year of slowing down has affected me on a cellular level,” Nolan wrote. “If you listen to the podcast this isn’t news to you. What’s next for me is to figure out how/where/when this new me can use the skills the old me acquired to make the stuff I think needs making. And maybe a vacation?”

I’ve thought about sending this tweet for weeks and I still have no clue how to make it not make you all roll your eyes. Alas: the obvious thing has happened. I no longer work at ESPN. I’m really grateful for my time here. I made incredible friendships and valuable mistakes.

— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) September 29, 2021

For the sake of brevity I’m gonna handle most of my thank yous via text, but I do want to publicly sing the praises of @AshleyBraband, a woman who made a lot of personal sacrifices in service of ESPN and myself, and who may never know how much that means to me.

— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) September 29, 2021

Lastly, to the most beleaguered podcast fans in the game: Thank you, for all of it. Seeing you be decent and hilarious with each other online is the best evidence I have that I’m on a path worth walking. You rule. If you’re still here when I get back, I won’t forget that. LYMI.

— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) September 29, 2021

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