Lauren Gardner’s run in Secaucus is over.
The MLB and NHL Network host announced on social media Friday that she and her husband, Patrick, had decided to return to Colorado to be closer to family as they begin a new chapter together.
“Lauren’s been a fantastic colleague and friend to us all throughout her eight years here in Secaucus,” the networks said, confirming her departure in a joint statement to Awful Announcing. “We thank her for the wonderful contributions she’s given across our platforms and projects, and we wish her nothing but the absolute best as she heads back home to Colorado.”
Gardner first arrived in Secaucus in March 2019 for DAZN’s baseball coverage, which was co-produced by MLB Network out of its own studios in Secaucus. The move capped a long, unconventional climb chronicled the same month by The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark, who profiled Gardner as she prepared to leave behind the Colorado sports scene for what ended up being seven years in New York/New Jersey.
A Denver native, Gardner had spent that stretch working the Avalanche and Nuggets beats for Altitude Sports, but her path there ran through nearly every odd job the local sports world had to offer. She interned at Mile High Sports Magazine at 19, cheered for the Broncos, spent two years as the on-camera face of the Champ Car racing series, and pieced together a living through sideline reporting for the Colorado Eagles and Mammoth while working day jobs in commercial real estate and condo sales just to keep the broadcasting dream alive. Gardner told Clark the decision to leave for the Tri-state area arrived almost like a premonition, recalling a specific drive down Colorado Boulevard, right where the road crests and the mountains come into view, when she suddenly knew, without any real explanation, that she was about to move east.
The DAZN job turned out to be the start of something bigger. Once that partnership wound down, Gardner moved into MLB Network and NHL Network, hosting across both networks’ full slate of offerings and reporting from various marquee events along the way. She also became a fixture in the outside projects MLB Network produces for its broadcast partners.
In July 2021, Gardner was part of the first-ever all-female broadcast crew in MLB history, calling an Orioles-Rays game for YouTube’s Game of the Week. For several years, she was also part of NHL Network’s all-female production of NHL Now, built annually to celebrate International Women’s Day.
After hosting a range of MLB Network programs, including Quick Pitch, Gardner became the main host of Off Base from 2022-24. Most recently, she hosted Apple TV’s Friday Night Baseball pre- and postgame coverage while also contributing across NHL Network’s studio shows.
Back in 2019, Clark’s profile closed with a friend predicting Gardner’s move to New York was just “a stepping stone onto something even greater.” Nearly seven years later, she’s headed home.
