{"id":906724,"date":"2026-09-26T23:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906724\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T23:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:02:17","slug":"every-snl-athlete-host-full-list-includes-mlb-nba-nfl-more-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906724\/","title":{"rendered":"Every \u2018SNL\u2019 athlete host: Full list includes MLB, NBA, NFL & more stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Very few entertainment<\/a> programs have had the longevity of Saturday Night Live<\/a>. it’s brought in celebrities from the world of film, music and sports.<\/p>\n

The sketch comedy show enters Season 52, and New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson<\/a> is set to host the NBC late-night program<\/a> for the first time.<\/p>\n

SNL’s had countless well-known athletes take the stage at its Rockefeller Center studio over the years. That includes NFL<\/a> champions like Tom Brady<\/a>, Eli Manning, Joe Montana and Peyton Manning.<\/p>\n

Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton became the first sports figure to host the show in 1977, which has sparked a flurry of other notable athletes since.<\/p>\n

Athletes from the world of boxing<\/a>, MLB<\/a>, NBA<\/a>, NHL<\/a>, WWE<\/a> and the Olympics<\/a> have gained notoriety on the comedic show, such as LeBron James, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michael Phelps and Wayne Gretzky.<\/p>\n

MORE: NBA star Jalen Brunson drops funny ‘SNL’ promo before hosting debut<\/a><\/p>\n

2026 NBA champion makes hosting debut\"NBA:<\/p>\n

NBA: New York Knicks-Championship Parade<\/p>\n

New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown and Jalen Brunson during the NBA championship parade. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Brunson’s reaching maximum popularity now as he starts to dabble in other areas off the court. The Knicks superstar enters a new era as he aims to set several pop culture milestones.<\/p>\n

The former college basketball<\/a> standout is close friends with Law & Order<\/a>: <\/a>SVU<\/a> star Mariska Hargitay<\/a>. The two have teased a potential cameo on the hit NBC show<\/a> in recent months, which makes sense with the timing of Brunson’s SNL appearance.<\/p>\n

Brunson becomes the first current or former NBA star to earn the hosting gig since Charles Barkley in 2018. The highly-entertaining Inside the NBA pundit has hosted the NBC show four times throughout his career.<\/p>\n

Here’s the full list of athletes that have hosted SNL throughout the last five-plus decades.<\/p>\n

MORE: Taylor Swift ‘Cleveland’ lyrics: Every reference to Travis Kelce, wedding day<\/a><\/p>\n

Every SNL athlete host in the show’s history\"NFL:<\/p>\n

NFL: Buffalo Bills at Los Angeles Rams<\/p>\n

Actor Dwayne Johnson before the game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Credit: USA TODAY Sports (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Athlete<\/p>\n

Episode<\/p>\n

Air date<\/p>\n

League\/Sport<\/p>\n

Fran Tarkenton<\/p>\n

Season 2, Episode 13<\/p>\n

Jan. 29, 1977<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

O.J. Simpson<\/p>\n

Season 3, Episode 12<\/p>\n

Feb. 25, 1978<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Bill Russell<\/p>\n

Season 5, Episode 3<\/p>\n

Nov. 3, 1979<\/p>\n

NBA<\/p>\n

John Madden<\/p>\n

Season 7, Episode 10<\/p>\n

Jan. 30, 1982<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Bob Uecker<\/p>\n

Season 10, Episode 2<\/p>\n

Oct. 13, 1984<\/p>\n

MLB<\/p>\n

Alex Karras<\/p>\n

Season 10, Episode 12<\/p>\n

Feb. 2, 1985<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Hulk Hogan<\/p>\n

Season 10, Episode 15<\/p>\n

March 30, 1985<\/p>\n

WWE<\/p>\n

Marvin Hagler<\/p>\n

Season 11, Episode 17<\/p>\n

May 17, 1986<\/p>\n

Boxer<\/p>\n

Billy Martin<\/p>\n

Season 11, Episode 18<\/p>\n

May 24, 1986<\/p>\n

MLB<\/p>\n

Joe Montana<\/p>\n

Season 12, Episode 9<\/p>\n

Jan. 24, 1987<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Walter Payton<\/p>\n

Season 12, Episode 9<\/p>\n

Jan 24. 1987<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Carl Weathers<\/p>\n

Season 13, Episode 10<\/p>\n

Jan. 13, 1988<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Wayne Gretzky<\/p>\n

Season 14, Episode 19<\/p>\n

May 13, 1989<\/p>\n

NHL<\/p>\n

Chris Evert<\/p>\n

Season 15, Episode 5<\/p>\n

Nov. 11, 1989<\/p>\n

Tennis<\/p>\n

Michael Jordan<\/p>\n

Season 17, Episode 1<\/p>\n

Sept. 28, 1991<\/p>\n

NBA<\/p>\n

Charles Barkley*<\/p>\n

Season 19, Episode 1<\/p>\n

Sept. 25, 1993<\/p>\n

NBA<\/p>\n

Nancy Kerrigan<\/p>\n

Season 19, Episode 15<\/p>\n

March 12, 1994<\/p>\n

Figure skating<\/p>\n

George Foreman<\/p>\n

Season 20, Episode 9<\/p>\n

Dec. 17, 1994<\/p>\n

Boxing<\/p>\n

Deion Sanders<\/p>\n

Season 20, Episode 13<\/p>\n

Feb. 18, 1995<\/p>\n

NFL & MLB<\/p>\n

Dwayne Johnson*<\/p>\n

Season 25, Episode 15<\/p>\n

March 18, 2000<\/p>\n

WWE<\/p>\n

Derek Jeter<\/p>\n

Season 27, Episode 11<\/p>\n

Dec. 1, 2001<\/p>\n

MLB<\/p>\n

Jonny Moseley<\/p>\n

Season 27, Episode 13<\/p>\n

March 3, 2002<\/p>\n

Olympic skiing<\/p>\n

Jeff Gordon<\/p>\n

Season 28, Episode 9<\/p>\n

Jan. 11, 2003<\/p>\n

NASCAR<\/p>\n

Andy Roddick<\/p>\n

Season 29, Episode 5<\/p>\n

Nov. 8, 2003<\/p>\n

Tennis<\/p>\n

Tom Brady<\/p>\n

Season 30, Episode 17<\/p>\n

April 16, 2005<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Lance Armstrong<\/p>\n

Season 31, Episode 4<\/p>\n

Oct. 29, 2005<\/p>\n

Cycling<\/p>\n

Peyton Manning<\/p>\n

Season 32, Episode 16<\/p>\n

March 24, 2007<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

LeBron James<\/p>\n

Season 33, Episode 1<\/p>\n

Sept. 29, 2007<\/p>\n

NBA<\/p>\n

Michael Phelps<\/p>\n

Season 34, Episode 1<\/p>\n

Sept. 13. 2008<\/p>\n

Swimming<\/p>\n

Eli Manning<\/p>\n

Season 37, Episode 11<\/p>\n

May 5, 2012<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Ronda Rousey<\/p>\n

Season 41, Episode 11<\/p>\n

Jan. 23, 2016<\/p>\n

UFC & WWE<\/p>\n

John Cena<\/p>\n

Season 42, Episode 9<\/p>\n

Dec. 10, 2016<\/p>\n

WWE<\/p>\n

J.J. Watt<\/p>\n

Season 45, Episode 12<\/p>\n

Feb. 1, 2020<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Travis Kelce<\/p>\n

Season 48, Episode 14<\/p>\n

Mar. 4, 2023<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson<\/p>\n

Season 52, Episode 1<\/p>\n

Sept. 26, 2026<\/p>\n

NBA<\/p>\n

Several figures like The Rock and Barkley have appeared on several episodes. The two notable figures have combined for nine hosting appearances.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter<\/a> \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Very few entertainment programs have had the longevity of Saturday Night Live. it’s brought in celebrities from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,24057,72275,31388,474917,20455,87002,24247,53221,591,590,1666,593,85,30663],"class_list":["post-906724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-charles-barkley","tag-dwayne-the-rock-johnson","tag-eli-manning","tag-fran-tarkenton","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-joe-montana","tag-mandatory-credit","tag-michael-phelps","tag-mlb","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-tom-brady"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}