Tom Pelissero

Tom Pelissero is an American NFL journalist known for breaking news on contracts, trades, and league matters on national television. He was born on March 7, 1981, in Edina, Minnesota, and started his career covering Midwest football beats. He became a nationally recognized NFL insider on NFL Network and contributed to an APSE Top 10 award for sports reporting. His reputation for accurate NFL reporting built deep trust across the football media industry.

Tom Pelissero Personal Details

Early Life

Tom grew up in Edina, Minnesota, an affluent suburb of Minneapolis. He took part in the school’s vocal music program, singing as a baritone in the Concert Choir and Men’s Chorus. His Midwestern upbringing gave him a grounded, practical character that would shape how he carried himself throughout his career. He stayed closely tied to the region even after reaching a national audience.

After finishing high school, Tom enrolled at Boston College in Massachusetts to study Communications. He got involved in student media, serving as Sports Editor for the university’s annual yearbook and writing about campus athletics. That experience taught him the basics of editorial oversight, deadline management, and storytelling. He graduated in 2003 and headed back to Minnesota to start building his journalism career from the ground up.

Education

Tom attended Edina High School in Minnesota before going on to Boston College in Massachusetts. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications as part of the Class of 2003 and stayed involved in campus media throughout his time there. He served as Sports Editor for the Sub Turri yearbook and developed practical editorial skills that would carry directly into his professional work. His degree gave him a strong foundation in journalism and communication that shaped his career path.

Family

Tom has been married to Sara Pelissero, a former multimedia producer for KARE 11, the NBC affiliate in the Twin Cities. She later built her own accomplished career in corporate communications, rising to Senior Director of Corporate Communications at UnitedHealthcare. Tom has spoken warmly about how central she is to both his personal and professional world. Their household runs closely in step with the demands of a round-the-clock news career.

The couple has two daughters, Tegan and Finley. Both girls grew up with their father’s broadcast studio as a constant presence in the home. His youngest once explained his career to her daycare teachers by saying simply that “He does football.” The family has built daily life around that reality in ways both ordinary and completely unusual for a suburban household.

Sara was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2017, shortly after Finley was born, when she was only 33 years old. She trusted her instincts, sought medical evaluation well below the standard screening age, and underwent treatment. Sara recovered and became a vocal advocate for early cancer detection. She focused her awareness efforts especially on Asian American and Pacific Islander women under 50, a group she belongs to as a Korean adoptee.

Tom’s father, Thomas L. Pelissero, published his debut memoir, Bring One Home, in November 2025. The book tells the story of the Bessemer Speedboys, a small-town Michigan basketball team known for a historic 42-game losing streak, and explores themes of community grit and resilience. Tom promoted it widely on social media with visible pride. The memoir went on to become a finalist in multiple independent book awards.

Personal Life

Tom chose to keep his family life rooted in the Minneapolis suburbs despite building a national media career. He lives in Plymouth, Minnesota, and had a professional-grade broadcast studio shipped from California to his home so he could appear on live television without relocating. A red light outside the studio door signals to his family when he is on air. When it turns off, his daughters often rush straight into the room.

The pace of NFL news means the work never fully stops, even overnight. Sara helps manage this by monitoring his phone while he sleeps, waking him only when important contacts reach out. This arrangement has become a practical solution to the impossible demands of breaking news journalism. The couple built a partnership that blends family life and professional necessity in a way most households could not sustain.

Beyond his serious on-air persona, Tom has shown dry humor in public moments. During a podcast appearance from the Canadian Rockies, he joked he was on “Bears Watch” and called standard wilderness advice to stay still “bear propaganda.” That moment gave audiences a side of him rarely seen in his day-to-day reporting. He is composed and measured in his coverage but clearly not without personality.

Tom Pelissero’s Professional Career

Tom began his career in 2003 at KFAN.com and KFAN radio in Minnesota, covering the Vikings after graduating from Boston College. He later worked at the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and then the Green Bay Press-Gazette, where he covered the Packers and rose to assistant sports editor. His print work earned recognition from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and the Milwaukee Press Club. He returned to Minnesota as a senior editor at 1500ESPN.com before making his national move.

In 2013, USA Today hired him as a national NFL reporter. During that period, he secured an exclusive interview with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson during the player’s legal case, handling a nationally sensitive story with depth and care. That work helped the USA Today Sports team win an APSE Top 10 award for overall excellence. He used the USA Today years to build the high-level executive and agent sources needed to compete at the top tier of the industry.

NFL Network officially brought Tom on board in July 2017, where he co-hosted The Insiders and became a daily presence across NFL programming. He built his reputation on breaking contracts, trades, and disciplinary news with accuracy and speed. In July 2026, ESPN laid off Tom and several other prominent NFL media figures following its acquisition of NFL Media, a move widely described as cost-cutting due to overlapping insider roles rather than any reflection on his reporting quality.

Tom Pelissero Media Links 

Lesser Known Facts About Tom Pelissero

• Tom sang as a baritone in the Concert Choir and Men’s Chorus during his high school years at Edina High School in Minnesota.
• His wife Sara monitors his phone while he sleeps so he never misses a late-night source call or breaking news text.
• A full professional broadcast studio was shipped from California to his suburban Minnesota home in boxes for his television appearances.
• A video of his then three-year-old daughter rapping to DMX while doing chores spread widely online and reached five million views.
• His daughter once explained his career to daycare teachers by saying simply that he does football.
• Sara Pelissero is a Korean adoptee and advocates for breast cancer awareness specifically among Asian American women under fifty.
• His father published a debut memoir about a small-town Michigan basketball team and their historic 42-game losing streak in 2025.
• In January 2026, he faced public mockery after using AI-generated images with errors, including one that misspelled Pittsburgh as “Steclers.”
• He called out anonymous social media accounts spreading fake NFL rumors on live television, labeling their operations a journalistic scam.
• He went viral in 2024 for comparing the Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback decision to cheating on a wife at the honeymoon.

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