Kelly Hallinan’s Path From Butler Sidelines to Covering the Packers
Kelly Hallinan built her sports journalism career the way a lot of successful broadcasters do—through a stack of internships, small-market reps, and a willingness to cover everything from Big Ten football to a historic all-female basketball broadcast—before landing one of the more high-profile beats in local sports television: covering the Green Bay Packers for NBC 26.
A New Yorker at Butler University
Hallinan is a native New Yorker, born and raised near New York City. She attended Butler University, graduating cum laude with a major in Sports Media and a minor in Web Design and Development — a pairing that reflects the broader multimedia skill set modern sports broadcasters increasingly need beyond just on-camera reporting.
Her Butler years were packed with hands-on experience. She interned with Fox Sports, ESPN, the SEC Network, WISH-TV, and Butler’s own athletics department, and served as a sideline reporter and play-by-play announcer for the Big East Digital Network — including, notably, play-by-play duties for a women’s basketball game that was part of the first-ever all-female broadcast in Big East history. At ESPN specifically, she managed SEC Network and Conference websites, publishing game recaps and editing video for SEC events on a daily basis, and she covered Big East men’s and women’s soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and the conference’s Indoor Track and Field Championships along the way.
Covering Purdue in West Lafayette
Before joining NBC 26, Hallinan worked as weekend sports anchor and reporter at WLFI in West Lafayette, Indiana, where she covered Purdue University Athletics, the Indianapolis Colts, and a wide range of high school sports. Her time there included coverage of two Purdue NCAA Tournament runs, the NFL Combine, the Citrus Bowl, the NBA Combine and All-Star Game, and Big Ten football and basketball championships. Beyond the scores and highlights, she’s said she made a point of finding and telling the human stories behind local and collegiate athletes’ accomplishments — an approach reflected in recurring segments she created, including “Catching Up With Kelly” and “Athlete of the Week.”
Joining NBC 26 and Covering the Packers
Hallinan joined NBC 26 as a sports reporter in October 2024, taking on coverage of the Green Bay Packers and the broader Wisconsin sports scene. Her reporting has continued to focus on the same kind of behind-the-highlight storytelling that defined her earlier work — including widely shared moments like Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed donating a turkey leg to a fan, and running back Josh Jacobs discussing playing through illness during a game. Several of her stories and clips have been picked up and referenced by national sports networks, extending her reporting’s reach well beyond the Green Bay market itself.
Quick Facts
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Kelly Hallinan |
| Occupation | Sports Reporter, NBC 26 (Green Bay, Wisconsin) |
| Hometown | Near New York City |
| Education | B.A., Sports Media (minor in Web Design and Development), Butler University (cum laude) |
| Prior role | Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter, WLFI (West Lafayette, Indiana) |
| Joined NBC 26 | October 2024 |
| Primary beat | Green Bay Packers; Wisconsin local and collegiate sports |
| Notable segments | “Catching Up With Kelly,” “Athlete of the Week” |
| Notable credit | Play-by-play announcer, first all-female Big East basketball broadcast |
FAQ
What does Kelly Hallinan cover at NBC 26? She’s a sports reporter covering the Green Bay Packers along with local and collegiate sports across Wisconsin.
Where did Kelly Hallinan work before NBC 26? She was the weekend sports anchor and reporter at WLFI in West Lafayette, Indiana, where she covered Purdue University Athletics and the Indianapolis Colts.
Where did Kelly Hallinan go to college? Butler University, where she graduated cum laude with a degree in Sports Media and a minor in Web Design and Development.
What is Kelly Hallinan known for in her reporting? Beyond standard sports coverage, she’s built a reputation for finding human-interest angles behind athletes’ performances, reflected in recurring segments like “Catching Up With Kelly.”
Built Through the Small Markets
Kelly Hallinan’s path to covering an NFL franchise runs through exactly the kind of ground-level experience that shapes a lot of durable sports broadcasting careers — internships, sideline reporting, a small-market anchor job — rather than a single viral break. That groundwork now shows up in the Packers coverage she’s built at NBC 26, where the same instinct for finding a story beyond the score has continued to define her work.
