Elle Duncan reveals what pushed her to leave ESPN for Netflix

Sports broadcaster Elle Duncan wanted more than ESPN had to offer her.During Front Office Sports’ “Tuned In” summit in New York on Tuesday, Duncan — who formerly co-hosted “SportsCenter” at 6 p.m.

with Kevin Negandhi and was the lead host for women’s basketball at the Worldwide Leader — recalled her decision to turn down a four- to five-year deal with ESPN in December to join Netflix as the streaming giant’s lead host for sports and live events.“When you Doctor Strange the next five years of your life, which is what I was doing — ESPN was offering me a four- or five-year deal.And I said to myself, ‘If I’m doing the exact same thing right now, in five years, would I be happy?’ And I ultimately landed at the answer of no,” Duncan said.

“Because I wanted to explore other opportunities, other things, and just test myself and test my mettle.And I’ve been able to do that.”Duncan hosted her first event for Netflix, “Skyscraper Live,” on Jan.

23, 2026, in which free-solo climber Alex Honnold scaled Taipei 101 without safety equipment.She recounted preparing for the broadcast, which included an on-air contingency plan if Honnold fell to his death.“But I think that for me, it was really about the challenge of doing some of these really interesting and unique projects that I never would have had an opportunity to do before,” she said.

“Definitely did not have it on my bingo card that I would be watching a man climb a building live without ropes.I think that’s what it was, it was the white space.

“When I signed on for Netflix we had six events that’s it.And I knew that they were growing and that they were moving in the space and that they were going to be adding more things.

But for me, it was the unknown, which is very scary, but also wildly exciting.Duncan explained that she simply outgrew her role at ESPN and that her decision to move on wasn’t forced.“Sometimes in life we are forced into change, we are forced t...