Ex-NFL reporter doesn’t buy ESPN’s justification for firing Sam Ponder: ‘They clearly’ wanted her gone

Former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya discusses ESPN's move to fire 'Sunday NFL Countdown' host Samantha Ponder, arguing the decision was 'mistreatment.'

ESPN fired reporter Sam Ponder on Thursday, citing budget cuts, but former sports reporters are pointing to her strong stance on fairness in women's sports as evidence of their motive to cut ties.  

Michele Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter, who left the industry in 2022, weighed in on the firing of Ponder on "America's Newsroom" on Friday. 

"I don't believe that anything is just budget cuts anymore," Tafoya said. "I think that they clearly wanted to find an off-ramp for Sam. What's troubling to me is the timing. This is three weeks before the NFL season begins. Her show ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ is coming off its best ratings year in quite some time, so I don't know why they would do this so close to the season and bring so much attention, unless they want to bring in the next host and give that host a lot of attention. But what Sam said in that tweet was so reasonable."

Ponder was among a small group of sports reporters who have publicly called for fairness in women’s sports amid the ongoing debate over transgender inclusion. 

Sam Ponder (Getty Images)

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"Call me whatever names you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it is inherently unfair for biological males to compete in female sports," Ponder tweeted in 2023. "It's literally the reason they were separate in the first place, and the reason we need Title IX."

Former football player Robert Griffin III was also fired the same day as Ponder and both of them still had time left on their contracts,