Dan RorabaughUSA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
ESPN fired two on-air personalities Thursday: football analyst Robert Griffin III and "Sunday NFL Countdown" host Sam Ponder. If the latter name sounds familiar to Florida State football fans, that's because the broadcaster is married to former FSU quarterback Christian Ponder.
According to The Athletic, Ponder and Griffin were let go as part of budget cuts. The two had limited roles at ESPN: RG3 was recently taken off "Monday Night Countdown" in favor of Jason Kelce, while Ponder's only role at the network was hosted the weekly NFL preview show.
However, both also were known for stirring the pot on social media. Griffin got into a perceived spat with fellow ESPN personality Paul Finebaum on Wednesday over FSU football and its snub from last season's College Football Playoff.
Ponder came under fire multiple times for posting about trans women in sports, and most recently disparaged gold-medal boxer Imane Khelif at the 2024 Olympics. She also publicly criticized ESPN for allowing a Barstool-branded show onto its airwaves because of the company and founder Dave Portnoy's history of misogyny and sexism.
Who is Sam Ponder?
Samantha Ponder (neé Steele) was born December 11, 1985 in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2009, she graduated from Liberty University, the private Christian college co-founded by evangelist Jerry Falwell. She has spent her entire career in sports broadcasting, starting in college football and basketball with Fox Sports as a radio personality, sideline reporter and TV host.
Ponder jumped to ESPN in 2011, where she would continue as college football and basketball sideline reporter and a studio host for the Longhorn Network. She contributed to "College GameDay" from 2012 to 2016 and was the Saturday night primetime sideline reporter in 2016.
In 2017, Ponder took over as host of the two-hour "Sunday NFL Countdown" show, taking over for longtime host Chris Berman. She also continued doing features and interviews for the network, according to ESPN.
Who is Sam Ponder's husband? Christian Ponder, former FSU football quarterback
Samantha Steele married Christian Ponder on December 17, 2012. The two had only been dating a few months before tying the knot in Wisconsin.
Christian Ponder played quarterback at Florida State from 2007 to 2010. He threw for 6,872 yards and 49 touchdowns with 30 interceptions in four seasons with the Seminoles.
He was drafted 12th overall by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2011 NFL Draft. His career was derailed by injuries and inconsistent play, going 14-21-1 over four seasons with a completion rate under 60%. He threw for 6,658 yards with 38 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He signed with the Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers after the Vikings let him walk, but he never took another snap in the NFL after the 2014 season.
Christian Ponder joined with Under Armour North America president Jason LaRose in 2023 to start The Post, a business networking group for former athletes.
Why did ESPN fire Sam Ponder?
According to The Athletic, Sam Ponder and Robert Griffin III were fired because of budget cuts. They were the only two known people being let go, as opposed to June 2023, when ESPN laid off about 20 on-air personalities and reporters, including South Florida native Suzy Kolber, NBA game analysts Jeff van Gundy and Mark Jackson, NFL Draft expert Todd McShay and college football analyst David Pollack.
Ponder and Griffin had limited roles at the network coupled with large salaries, which made them easy targets for layoffs, The Athletic's Andrew Marchand said. The report said both made seven figures, which ESPN in recent years has reserved for mega-stars like Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, whose only duty at the network is commentating Monday Night Football.
How much does Sam Ponder make?
According to The Athletic, Ponder was entering the final year on a three-year contract worth $3 million.
What did Sam Ponder say about Olympics boxer Imane Khelif?
Both Ponder and Griffin are known for causing controversy on social media. Ponder often speaks out for women in sports, but she has come under fire for repeatedly going after transgender people competing in women's sports.
She recently got into hot water over posts about Imane Khelif, a boxer from Algeria competing in the 2024 Olympics. After Italy's Angela Carini pulled out of her match after taking one punch from Khelif, many people came out with false claims that Khelif was male or trans. Khelif was born female, and being transgender in Algeria is illegal, but that didn't stop people from claiming that she was ruining women's sports.
Ponder was among those voices, posting on August 1 that "ENOUGH is what all of us should be saying" about Khelif competing in the Olympics:
Khelif went on to win the gold medal, and after the Olympics, she announced she would be filing charges over "acts of aggravated cyber harassment" committed against her. Her attorney said "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and Twitter owner Elon Musk were named in the complaint.
Ponder has come out against trans women competing in women's sports before. In 2023, she shared a social media post from anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, saying it was done to "demand fairness in sports for girls." Earlier that year, she replied "Yes, thank you," to a clip of Megyn Kelly saying "You can't just become (a woman) and take all of our things."
At least 23 states, including Florida, have passed legislation in recent years restricting trans athletes' ability to participate in women's sports. This despite the rarity of trans athletes: Kentucky passed a ban even though only one person in the entire state would be affected by it.
What does Barstool, founder Dave Portnoy have to do with Sam Ponder?
In 2017, ESPN aired the lone episode "Barstool Van Talk" a show with stars of off-brand sports media company Barstool Sports. In response to the show, Ponder shared snippets of some of the stories the site had written about her in the past with the sarcastic: "Welcome to the ESPN family @BarstoolBigCat (& welcome to all ur minions who will respond to this so kindly)." Dan Katz (aka "Big Cat") replied that he didn't write that post, to which Ponder responded, "Should I save the 'rundown' where you called me a slu*t for later or use that one now?"
Barstool has a reputation for misogyny and sexualizing women in sports over its history. The company's fans also have a habit of attacking people online who have badmouthed it or its founder, Dave Portnoy.
"Barstool Van Talk" was pulled after one episode. Ponder has said she had nothing to do with the show's cancelation, though Portnoy had blamed her for it.
After the news of Ponder's firing, Portnoy posted a video to social media saying he held no grudge against her.
"I took the first shot at Sam Ponder," Portnoy said in the video. "Was it joking? Yeah. Do I think she and ESPN overreacted? I know so. But I’m fair."
