Dana Jacobson

First Take Co-Host, XCenter Host and SportsCenter Anchor

Dana Jacobson joined ESPN as an ESPNEWS anchor in December 2002 and shortly after became a regular anchor on the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter. In March 2005, Jacobson was named co-host of ESPN2's live national morning show Cold Pizza. In May 2007, the program was renamed ESPN First Take and is telecast in high definition from ESPN studios in Bristol, CT. weekdays at 10 a.m. ET (re-airs at noon). 

Jacobson also shares "umpire" duties for the 1st and 10 segments, featuring veteran sports journalist Skip Bayless and other noted columnists attacking the ten biggest sports stories of the day in multiple segments throughout ESPN First Take. These segments re-air later in the day on ESPN's 1st and 10. 

This past year Jacobson served as XCenter host for both the Summer X Games in Los Angeles and the Winter X Games in Aspen. She also hosted the first ESPY Awards Red Carpet Show on ESPN360.com.  Other duties have included sideline reporting for ESPN’s coverage of NBA Sunday night games and guest host for “The Dan Patrick Show” on ESPN Radio.  

Jacobson joined ESPN after several years as a Northern California broadcast journalist.  During her career, Dana has reported on a number of stories including profiles of the Sacramento Kings top players Mike Bibby, Chris Webber, and Jason Williams.  As a weekend sports anchor at KXTV-TV, ABC’s affiliate station in Sacramento, Calif. (1998-02), she covered a wide range of professional sports, including the NFL and NBA.  In addition to hosting KXTV’s News10 Red Zone, Jacobson served as a sports reporter for the station’s post -Monday Night Football Show (1996-98) and as co-host of NBA Insiders, a weekly two-hour radio show for the Sacramento Kings flagship station, KHTK-AM (2000-02).

Jacobson was graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor with a bachelor of arts in English and communications.  She landed her first television job in Traverse City, Mich., at WPBN/WTOM-TV, where she spent two years as a fill-in news anchor, producer and editor.

While at KXTV-TV, Jacobson won two regional awards including the Edward R. Murrow Award (2000) and the National Headliner Award (1998) for sports reporting.

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