Miami NBC owned station WTVJ will be without a sports department after Ruthie Polinsky makes her final appearance during the 11 p.m. newscast on Sunday.
Polinsky started working at the station in March of 2020. The Miami Herald says Polinsky declined the station’s contract offer.
“We are committed to covering local sports and want to ensure our sports content remains valuable and compelling to our viewers,” Dawn Clapperton, NBC’s vice president of news, said in a statement to the Miami Herald. “That means, like many successful teams, we are in the market to acquire a new star player to lead our coverage of South Florida sports.”
The station is actively looking for a new sports anchor and reporter and will use its news anchors for its sports segments until a replacement is found. Sports will only appear in the newscast when the station thinks its relevant.
Polinsky is the fourth person to leave the station’s sports department in the past year.
Hailey Sutton, who had been WTVJ’s No. 2 sportscaster, left last summer for a media job with the Dallas Cowboys.
Giselle Espinales, who was a producer and did on-air work at the station left last Sunday.
The Herald says WTVJ is is the only station in the market that doesn’t employ a full-time designated sports photographer.
And Alex Suarez, the executive sports producer, was moved to an entertainment position and to Telemundo while his sports position was eliminated.