With the 2023 football season firmly in the rearview mirror, Fox Sports sideline reporter Erin Andrews is focusing on her other passions. First and foremost is spending quality time with her husband, retired NHL player Jarret Stoll, and their son, Mack, who was born via surrogate in June 2023.
As perhaps the most recognizable female sportscaster in the U.S., Andrews is thankful that after a nine-year struggle with infertility, she and her husband were able to welcome Mack into their family.
“After traveling nonstop during the NFL season, I’m trying to reintroduce myself to Mack,” Andrews says. “I’m on his time now, and because I’m not around as much during the football season, I feel so guilty when he’s awake and I need to take a Zoom call or do something work-related.”
Photo Courtesy Of Erin Andrews
Like many new moms, Andrews, 45, admits she’s still striving to find a balance between home and work.
“I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m certainly trying,” she says with a smile. “I was talking to one of my girlfriends the other day about how before I had Mack, I’d enjoy a workout and then head to appointments in Beverly Hills for three to four hours.”
Now, after working out, Andrews says the first thing she does is call to check on Mack. If he’s napping, she might have an extra 20 minutes to run errands, but if he’s awake, she immediately heads home to spend quality time with her son.
In many ways, Andrews is making up for lost time. After being diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016, her oncologist recommended that Andrews and her husband freeze embryos. Although she underwent two surgeries and was declared cancer-free, the couple decided to pursue in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the event her cancer returned.
“I remember being in a fertility clinic and seeing the waiting room just absolutely packed,” Andrews says. “I realized then that infertility was a common issue, yet very few people discuss it openly.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in 10 women in the U.S. have difficulty getting or staying pregnant.
Since talking with others who had gone through IVF and surrogacy helped Andrews, she decided to pay it forward and to be candid about her own infertility journey. In August 2021, she penned a vulnerable blog post letting other women experiencing infertility to know they weren’t alone.
“It was my seventh time undergoing IVF and I was emotionally and physically tired of putting hormones in my body,” Andrews says. “It hit me then, ‘Why am I keeping the IVF process a secret when it affects so many women; instead of feeling ashamed, we need to give ourselves more love.’”
After her own diagnosis of cervical cancer, Andrews is also passionate about encouraging women to get an annual Pap smear and human papillomavirus (HPV) test to screen for cervical cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 13,820 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year and about 4,360 women will die from cervical cancer.
“I didn’t realize how common cervical cancer was,” Andrews says. “It’s a highly treatable and curable disease if it’s detected early, but I’ve learned a lot of women aren’t getting regular exams.”
As the only woman that travels with her football crew, Andrews also wanted to emphasize the importance of screening to her male colleagues.
“I want to encourage them to have their wives, girlfriends, mothers and aunts to get screened,” she says. “So many players, as well as Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots, reached out to me and said they really appreciated this reminder to talk to the women in their lives about the importance of yearly exams.”
Erin Andrews and her husband Jarret Stoll
From Covering Florida Ice Hockey To The NFL
Growing up in Tampa Bay, Andrews was exposed to the world of television broadcasting at an early age. Her father, Steven, a six-time Emmy award winner, worked as an investigative reporter for NBC affiliate, WFLA-TV, before retiring in 2020.
Not only did Andrews’ father inspire her career choice, but he also instilled in her a love of sports and emphasized the importance of hard work. After graduating from the University of Florida, Andrews began her own career in television as a Tampa Bay Lightning reporter, covering the ice hockey team for the Sunshine Network from 2001-2002. In 2004, she joined ESPN as a sideline reporter and worked there for eight years before joining FOX Sports in 2012.
“As a broadcaster and sideline reporter, my role is obviously certainly different from a play-by-play announcer or an analyst,” Andrews says. “For me, it’s important that the athletes, coaches, general managers and team owners all respect me because I never played football.”
To earn their respect, Andrews says she overprepares before every game, spending several days studying the team, coaches and player histories, reading articles and making phone calls.
“I never want to have a moment on the field where something happens in the game or on the sidelines and I don’t know what to do or say,” Andrews says. “That’s why I overprepare so much.”
While part of Andrews’ strong work ethic comes from her upbringing, she’s also learned that being a successful female sports reporter in a male-dominated field means putting in the work.
Photo Courtesy Of Erin Andrews
“I was just telling a young female college student how important it is to show you belong in sports broadcasting by working hard, doing the research and earning the respect of the players and coaches,” Andrews says. “Once that’s accomplished, you can begin to show your personality a bit.”
Feeling comfortable enough to be authentic on air is a topic Andrews has also discussed on “Calm Down with Erin and Charissa,” a podcast she co-hosts with Charissa Thompson, a sportscaster with FOX News and Amazon Prime Video.
“I’m finally at the point where I feel comfortable in my own skin and it’s insane that it’s taken me so long,” Andrews said in a podcast episode that aired last September.
In another memorable episode taped last fall, Andrews and Thompson channeled their inner matchmakers, encouraging singer Taylor Swift to date Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“When Travis mentioned on his podcast that he had hoped to meet Taylor after her show in Kansas City, we both said, ‘Taylor, please date him,’ because he’s fantastic,” Andrews says. “We honestly don’t know if she saw our podcast, but we joke about how we played Cupid between the two of them.”
Andrews knows firsthand that sometimes love needs a little nudge. In 2012, she met her future husband, Stoll, on a blind date, arranged by her co-worker, former NFL player-turned-television-personality Michael Strahan.
A retired hockey player, Stoll won two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings and previously played for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild. He now works in player development for the Los Angeles Kings.
“Jarett and I love going out to dinner and just enjoying Los Angeles,” Andrews says. “We also have a home in Montana that we like to spend time at with our family and golden retriever, Howard.”
The couple’s combined love of sports also inspired Andrews to launch a sports apparel brand for women, WEAR by Erin Andrews.
“I’m a huge sports fan, but when I wanted to cheer on my husband’s hockey team or one of my other favorite teams, I couldn’t find a lot of clothing options for women,” she says. “I’d go into team stores and there would be so much for men and only a couple of items for women that I really wouldn’t wear.”
Andrews mentioned to her management team how she saw women’s fan apparel as a white space in the market and wanted to bridge the gap. Today, her clothing line is a hit with fans, including Taylor Swift, who first wore one of the line’s Kansas City Chief jackets to cheer on Kelce at a game last year.
Erin Andrews with her husband Jarret Stoll and their son, Mack
“I’m absolutely blown away and grateful that Taylor Swift, the biggest star in the world, has decided to wear our apparel line three times in one season,” Andrews says. “My dad asked me the other day how things were going with the brand and while it’s amazing to have Taylor wearing our apparel to several games, including the Super Bowl, we’re still working to break down a lot of doors and show retailers this line is needed.”
The Emmy-nominated sports broadcaster also brings her empowering messages to women through public speaking engagements. In March, she was the keynote speaker at the YMCA of South Beach County Inspiration Breakfast.
“It’s always nice to return to Florida to see my parents and enjoy some of the great Cuban restaurants in South Florida and Tampa,” she says.
Looking to the future, Andrews hopes that when the day comes for her to retire from sports broadcasting she can continue her work in television.
“I had a really good time co-hosting ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and I hope there’s an opportunity to host a game show or be a part of a program like ‘The Today Show,’” she says. “I have such a great time when I’ve appeared on ‘The Today Show’ and I think I offer a different perspective of life being married at 40 and becoming a first-time mother at 45.”
One thing is for certain: Whatever opportunities Andrews decides to pursue in the future, her fans will be watching.