Netflix Sports Host Elle Duncan Reveals Early Career Mishap That Taught Her a Key Lesson: 'I Was Horrible' (Exclusive)
· Yahoo Sports
Credit: Deborah Coleman / Netflix
NEED TO KNOW
- Sports anchor Elle Duncan recently joined Netflix as the streamer's on-air host for sports and live events after working for ESPN for years
- She anchored her second live event for Netflix on March 25 at MLB Opening Night in San Francisco, where the New York Yankees faced the San Francisco Giants
- Years ago on Opening Day in Atlanta, Duncan said she suffered through a career snafu that taught her an important career lesson she uses to this day
Netflix's new on-air host Elle Duncan came prepared for 2026 MLB Opening Day.
Visit xsportfeed.quest for more information.
While speaking with PEOPLE at the San Francisco event, Duncan, 42, revealed that she learned from a "bad" mistake she made early on in her career — and shared how it's shaped her every moment as a sports anchor since.
"I had been desperate to cover the Braves, and I was working in traffic on the local news in Atlanta," says Duncan, who was born in Atlanta and got her start in the city as an intern with a sports talk radio show.
"I begged them to send me to the Braves game for Opening Day. Let me do my thing. I'm going to cook. I'm going to be so good. And I was horrible," she recalls. "I was so bad."
Elle Duncan (L) and Barry Bonds (R) at MLB Opening Night Game: Yankees vs. Giants, Live on Netflix at Oracle Park in San Francisco on March 25, 2026Credit: Deborah Coleman / Netflix
Though things didn't work out in her favor that day, Duncan learned a lot from her mistake: "I always think about that moment because it's a reminder that confidence without preparation really doesn't mean anything. And I was so overconfident that I didn't prepare in the way that I should," she says.
Duncan, who grew up playing softball, adds, "I just said to myself, well, you're a softball girlie, you're a huge Braves fan, you know this team, it's going to be fine. And I realized in real time how embarrassing it was to oversell and really fall short."
"So it helped me at the very beginning of my career to remember and remind myself that even the small, menial things that you think that you know and have a handle on, you should really, really prepare for," she says.
Duncan adds, "It's helped me sort of get to the position where I'm like, even if I think I know it like the back of my hand, I'm going to make sure that everything is above board and buttoned up so that I don't ever do that again. It was so bad."
Duncan has seen a lot of success in her career since then. For almost a decade, she hosted ESPN SportsCenter and lead College GameDay and WNBA Countdown broadcasts. In December 2025, she signed a multi-year deal with Netflix to host sports events across the platform.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
She tells PEOPLE that her new role is "going great," adding, "Netflix is amazing. I love their scale."
"I love that they are so extra in the best possible way. They're like, how do we take this spectacle and make it even bigger," she says, noting that MLB Opening Night is her second live hosting gig for the streamer after anchoring Alex Honnold's free solo climb up the Taipei 101 tower in January.
"I'm having a great time. This is the second thing I'm doing for Netflix, so early returns. It's awesome," she says.
Read the original article on People