Kara Hammer is a rinkside reporter and studio host on Nashville Predators television broadcasts, and 2026-27 is her first full-time season after nine seasons working home games only. Kara Hammer also co-hosts the club’s own Predators Official Podcast. She came to hockey late, from a beat that was mostly college football, college basketball and rodeo.
| Fast facts: Kara Hammer | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Rinkside reporter on Predators broadcasts since 2017-18 |
| Role in 2026-27 | Rinkside at home games, pregame and postgame host on the road |
| Employer | Predators broadcasts on Scripps Sports |
| Hometown | Denver, Colorado |
| Education | University of Wyoming |
| Previous roles | WKRN News 2 Nashville; Fox Sports Arizona; Channel 5 Cheyenne |
| Hockey connection | Covered the Predators for local news before joining their broadcast in 2017 |
What does Kara Hammer do for the Nashville Predators?
Kara Hammer reports from ice level at Predators home games and hosts the pregame and postgame shows when the team is on the road. The Predators and Scripps Sports set out that split in their 2026-27 broadcast announcement on 27 August 2026, which called it her first season as a full-time broadcast team member and her 10th season overall. Lyndsay Rowley takes the opposite roles, hosting at home and reporting rinkside on the road.
The games air on The Spot, Nashville 28, with 85 Predators broadcasts in 2026-27, four of them preseason, each wrapped in a 30-minute pregame and postgame show, and at least four simulcast on NewsChannel 5. Willy Daunic calls the games with Chris Mason, and Hal Gill is the studio analyst. The channels and streams for every Predators game are in our guide to how to watch the Nashville Predators.
What did Kara Hammer do before the Predators?
Kara Hammer started at Channel 5 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she interned for two years while studying at the University of Wyoming and then stayed on for two more as a sports reporter. She spent a summer working in minor league baseball, then moved to Fox Sports Arizona as a sideline reporter on college football and basketball.
Nashville came next. She joined WKRN News 2 as a sports reporter covering the Titans, the University of Tennessee and the Predators, and she said at the time that she was the only woman working as a sports reporter in the market. The Predators hired her for their broadcast on 23 August 2017, when she said she was entering her tenth year in sports journalism.
| Year | Role | Outlet |
|---|---|---|
| About 2007 to 2011 | Intern, then sports reporter | Channel 5, Cheyenne, Wyoming |
| About 2011 to 2015 | Sideline reporter, college football and basketball | Fox Sports Arizona |
| About 2015 to 2017 | Sports reporter: Titans, Tennessee, Predators | WKRN News 2, Nashville |
| 2017-18 to 2025-26 | Rinkside reporter, home games | Fox Sports Tennessee, later Bally Sports South and FanDuel Sports Network |
| From October 2023 | Co-host, Predators Official Podcast | Nashville Predators |
| From 2026-27 | Rinkside at home, pregame and postgame host on the road | Scripps Sports |
Kara Hammer waited nine seasons for a full-time chair: hired on 23 August 2017, promoted on 27 August 2026, nine years and four days later. The network under her changed three times in between, from Fox Sports Tennessee to Bally Sports South to FanDuel Sports Network to Scripps Sports, without her ever changing team.
How did Kara Hammer get into hockey?
Late, and by accident of the news cycle. Kara Hammer spent her first decade in television on football, basketball and rodeo. “I probably know as much about rodeo as I do about college basketball,” she told The Game Nashville in March 2017, a month before the Predators’ run to the Stanley Cup Final turned her Nashville beat into a hockey beat.
She covered that playoff run for News 2, and the following season she was working the same games from ice level. In her first season she told On the Forecheck that the job was a chance to give viewers more perspective on who the players actually are.
Is Kara Hammer on the Predators podcast?
Yes. Kara Hammer has co-hosted the Predators Official Podcast, the club’s own show, since it returned for the 2023-24 season in October 2023. She hosts it with Max Herz, with Brooks Bratten also appearing, and the club bills it as a 45-minute show with player and analyst interviews. It runs through the off-season as well as the season: an episode in July 2026 covered the draft, development camp and free agency.
How old is Kara Hammer?
The Game Nashville reported her age as 30 in March 2017, putting her birth year at 1986 or 1987.
Where is Kara Hammer from?
Kara Hammer is from Denver, Colorado, and has called herself a total mountain girl. She has no playing background in hockey. She reached the NHL the way Stormy Buonantony and several other rinkside reporters did, by covering other sports first.
Is Kara Hammer married?
Kara Hammer has not publicly discussed a husband or partner, and no club announcement, interview or established outlet has reported one.
