Linda Cohn Net Worth, Biography Update, Age, Children, Husband, ESPN

Biography & Early Life

Cohn grew up in a Jewish family on Long Island, New York. As a child, she watched sports on TV with her father, who loved sports. At 15, her mother found a hockey league where she could play with younger boys. As a teenager, Cohn showed talent as a goaltender and in ice hockey made her high school’s hockey boys’ team. She did not make the team as a junior but succeeded as a senior. After graduating from Newfield High School in Selden, she attended SUNY Oswego and played goalie for the women’s ice hockey team. She earned a bachelor’s degree in arts and communications in 1981. In 2006, Cohn was inducted into the Oswego State Athletics Hall of Fame.

Career

Cohn started her career as a sports anchor at WALK-AM and WALK-FM in Patchogue, New York, in 1981, working there for four years. After leaving in 1984, she worked as a sports anchor at four other New York area radio stations until 1987, including a short time as an update person at WFAN in New York City.

In 1987, Cohn became the first full-time female sports anchor on a national radio network in the U.S. when ABC hired her. She anchored WABC TalkRadio from 1987 to 1989. In 1988, she got her first television job at SportsChannel America, which was a major competitor to ESPN at the time. In 1989, she hosted a call-in sports radio show in New York.

Cohn worked as a reporter at SportsChannel America Network before joining KIRO-TV in Seattle, Washington, as a sports anchor in October 1989.

Cohn moved back to the East Coast in 1992 when ESPN hired her to work on SportsCenter. She anchored her first show on July 11, 1992, with Chris Myers. She has appeared in many This Is SportsCenter commercials. In 1994, ESPN almost let her go, saying she did not show enough passion for sports on TV. The company gave her six months to improve and brought in a video coach to help.

Besides her work as a sports journalist, Cohn became known for her predictions during the 1997 NCAA basketball tournament. That year, her ESPN bracket correctly picked 15th-seeded Coppin State University to beat South Carolina in the first round, which is still considered one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

In 2005, Cohn signed a new contract with ESPN that added play-by-play duties for WNBA games. On June 20, 2008, ESPN said Cohn would be a regular anchor for the new morning block of SportsCenter, which started on August 11. She was set to co-anchor the first three hours with Steve Berthiaume from 6 to 9 a.m. ET on weekdays. A few weeks later, ESPN announced the morning block would be reduced from nine to six hours.

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On February 21, 2016, she hosted her 5,000th episode of SportsCenter, setting a record for anchors on the show. Cohn still anchors SportsCenter regularly from 1 to 3 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. She also hosts the podcast “Listen Closely to Linda Cohn.”

Throughout her career at ESPN, Cohn has reported, commented, interviewed, written, and done play-by-play. Since 2016, she has co-hosted SportsCenter from Los Angeles on weekends with Neil Everett.

The network suspended Cohn for saying in an April 2017 radio interview that its left-wing bias had contributed to a loss of subscribers. In July 2018, ESPN announced that Cohn had signed a new contract to stay with the company for several more years. The deal included her ongoing anchor role on SportsCenter and more ice hockey coverage. Executive Vice President Norby Williamson said that in her 26 years at ESPN, Cohn had “hosted more SportsCenters than anyone else.”

The contract also made her the main host of In the Crease on ESPN+, which expanded to five nights a week during the NHL season. She would also contribute hockey interviews and features to SportsCenter and other ESPN platforms. In June 2026, Cohn announced her retirement from ESPN after 34 years at the network and more than 5,500 episodes of SportsCenter, setting a record.

In 2008, Cohn published her memoir, Cohn-Head: A No-Holds-Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys’ Club, where she shares her passion for sports and her experiences on SportsCenter.

Personal life

Cohn has two children with her ex-husband, Stew Kaufman. They divorced in 2008.

In 2014, Cohn was recognized as one of the 25 most influential women in sports. She is a fan of the New York Giants, Mets, Knicks, and Rangers.

Cohn served on the 13-person panel that chose the Top 100 Players in Giants history.

Net Worth

Linda Cohn is a veteran American sportscaster with a net worth of $12 million.