About | Marilyn Payne – Sports Reporter

MARILYN’S BACKGROUND

In 2021, Marilyn worked on ACC Network Extra and ESPN+ games, as well as on college & high school football broadcasts for Sinclair Broadcast Group from 2019-2021. Throughout the 2021-2022 athletic year, she managed a workload of more than 40 live broadcasts, including 2 football games per week during the fall season.

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In addition to her sideline work, in 2020 Marilyn worked in the booth as an analyst on Sinclair’s FNR broadcasts. Marilyn solo anchored/hosted Carolina Postgame Live during the 2019-2020 college basketball season.

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Marilyn spent 2019 and early 2020 working as a video host/reporter for USA Today Sports Media Group.

Marilyn’s work with USAT SMG covered national breaking and trending news in the NFL and NBA (HoopsHype). She also covered MLB, Golf (GolfWeek.com), NHL, MMA, college football and basketball and other miscellaneous sports in the role. From horse racing to fishing and the intersection of pop culture, social media and sports, Marilyn’s range of coverage spans across all of sports media.

In addition to scripting and hosting 5-8 videos per day with USAT SMG, Marilyn wrote the south region cover story on Duke’s Tre Jones for the 2019 USA Today College Basketball Preview special section and wrote daily stories to accompany her videos for web (For The Win!).

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From 2013-2019, Marilyn covered the ACC for a variety of broadcast and digital media outlets. 

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Marilyn covered and told the stories of back-to-back NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships, traveling along the Road to the Final Four with North Carolina in 2016 and 2017. She has also covered ACC teams in two football conference championship games, eight bowl games, six men’s basketball tournaments and championships, three NCAA First and Second Rounds, three Sweet 16s, and the two Final Fours and National Championships. Additionally, Marilyn has reported from the Women’s Basketball ACC tournament and Championship, five ACC Baseball tournaments and championships, six NCAA baseball regionals, five Super Regionals and on three teams which advanced to the College World Series.

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On Olympic sports coverage, Marilyn has told stories of All-Americans on three wrestling teams, teams which won NCAA and ACC Championships in men’s swimming and diving, NCAA and ACC Championships in men’s (singles and doubles) and women’s tennis, two ACC softball tournaments, men’s and women’s lacrosse national championships, a men’s soccer national championship and ACC gymnastics and rowing teams.

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Marilyn is also a detail-oriented digital marketer, social media manager and strategic communicator.