Leila Rahimi first female to take lead sports anchor position on NBC5

Leila Rahimi
Leila Rahimi

It’s a big goal for the girl’s team as multiple sources including NBC5 and Rahimi herself, announce that 39 year old Leila Rahimi has been promoted to the full-time position of lead sports anchor at NBC 5 Chicago. Rahimi will be the first female to hold the position as sports director/main sports anchor in Chicago TV history.

Rahimi has been working with NBC5 since 2015 when she first moved from Philadelphia to Chicago to host Baseball Night in Chicago, White Sox Pregame and Postgame Live, Cubs Pregame and Postgame Live, and their nightly news shows. Unfortunately, in August 2020, Rahimi was laid off from NBC Sports Chicago as part of company-wide cutbacks at NBCUniversal due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a few months later, in January 2021 Rahimi was announced as a partner to long-time WSCR host Dan Bernstein on a new midday radio show dubbed Bernstein and Rahimi where she was the first woman to host a Monday-Friday daytime shift at The Score. NBC5 missed working with Leila and a year after she was laid off from NBC Sports Chicago, Rahimi returned to the NBCUniversal family in November as a part-time sports anchor and reporter for NBC-owned station WMAQ-TV. Rahimi will leave the radio show full-time but will return on Wednesdays. Bernstein will host solo on other days, for the time being.

Rahimi will anchor the sportscasts on the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news and co-anchor Sports Sunday with Mike Berman, who will become the weekend sports anchor. Jeff Blanzy will anchor Friday evenings and when otherwise needed. The changes take effect April 4.

Leila Rahimi is originally from Texas and graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Texas with a degree in journalism before accepting positions as an anchor/reporter with KTCK-AM Sports Radio in Dallas, a sports anchor/reporter with CBS-affiliate KXII-TV in Sherman, Texas, a position with NBC-affiliate KXAN-TV in Austin, Texas, the field reporter for the San Diego Padres for Fox Sports San Diego, before returning to Texas to work at Comcast SportsNet Houston as an anchor, reporter, and sideline reporter for the Houston Astros and the Houston Rockets which earned her several Emmy nominations.

After Houston, Rahimi worked with the MLB Network while in Philadelphia and was an anchor and reporter for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia before moving to her new home in Chicago. 

Rahimi Tweeted about her new schedule:

She was also thrilled to share the news on her Instagram story:

Reel Chicago couldn’t be more delighted for her and wish her nothing but success in her new position as anchor.


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