When we look back at the most chaotic eras of NFL history, the 2008 New York Jets season usually pops up for one reason: the weird, short-lived experiment of Brett Favre in green and white. But for many fans, the football side of things—the interceptions, the 8-3 start that turned into a collapse—isn't what stuck. What stuck was the fallout involving a young woman named Jenn Sterger.
Honestly, the way people talk about the "Jets reporter Brett Favre scandal" is still kinda messy even years later. There’s a lot of confusion about who she was, what she actually did for the team, and whether she and Favre ever even met.
Spoiler: They didn't.
Jenn Sterger wasn't a "reporter" in the traditional sense of sitting in a press box with a notepad and a credential. She was a Gameday Host. Her job was to be the face of the stadium experience, doing on-camera hits, introducing the dance team, and basically keeping the energy high at the Meadowlands. She was already famous in her own right before she ever stepped foot in New York, having gone viral as one of the "FSU Cowgirls" during an ABC broadcast in 2005. Brent Musburger famously commented on her during that game, and her career exploded from there. She’d done modeling for Maxim and Playboy, and she had a massive following on MySpace.
By the time 2008 rolled around, she was a rising star in sports media. Then Favre showed up.
The Reality of the Jets Reporter Brett Favre Messages
The story didn't actually break until 2010, which is where a lot of the timeline gets fuzzy for people. At that point, Favre was already playing for the Minnesota Vikings. The website Deadspin published a bombshell report claiming that back in 2008, Favre had relentlessly pursued Sterger.
We’re talking unsolicited text messages. We’re talking voicemails. And, most infamously, we’re talking about "below-the-belt" photos.
A lot of people assumed Sterger was the one who leaked the stuff for fame or money. That’s basically the biggest misconception in this whole saga. In the 2025 Netflix documentary Untold: The Fall of Favre, Sterger explains that she never wanted any of this public. She’d shared the messages with a few people while asking for advice on how to handle it. One of those people happened to be A.J. Daulerio, the editor of Deadspin at the time. He ended up publishing the story without her consent.
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Imagine being 26 years old, trying to build a career in a male-dominated industry, and suddenly you’re the centerpiece of a national "sexting" scandal involving a future Hall of Famer.
She was terrified. She told ABC News in a 2011 interview that she felt like "that girl at the bar that just could not get the hint."
The details are pretty cringey. According to Sterger, she was approached by a Jets employee—someone with a badge—who asked if she’d give Favre her number. She said no. She even joked that she looked remarkably like his wife, Deanna, as a way to shut it down. It didn't work. Favre allegedly got her number through other channels and started the barrage.
One of the voicemails was particularly weird. It was basically Favre asking her to come over to his hotel room. "Send me a text. Love to see you tonight," the message said.
Favre eventually admitted to leaving the voicemails. He denied sending the photos.
Why the NFL Investigation Felt Like a Slap on the Wrist
The league eventually stepped in, but if you were expecting a massive suspension, you were disappointed. Commissioner Roger Goodell launched a review to see if Favre had violated the league’s personal conduct policy.
The investigation took forever. It dragged on because investigators had trouble getting everyone to talk, and they were trying to do forensic analysis on phone records from two years prior.
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In the end? Favre was fined $50,000.
For a guy making millions, that’s basically a rounding error. The NFL claimed they "could not conclude" that Favre sent the graphic photos. They did, however, find that he failed to cooperate with the investigation. That’s what the fine was for—being unhelpful.
Sterger’s lawyer at the time, Joseph Conway, was livid. He called the decision "extremely disappointing" and argued that there was plenty of evidence. But the NFL's focus was strictly on whether it was a "workplace conduct" issue. Since they had never met in person and she didn't report to him, the league took a very narrow view of the whole thing.
The "Other" Side of the 2008 Jets Scandal
Most people focus on Sterger, but she wasn't the only one Favre was allegedly harassing during his time in New York.
Two massage therapists, Christina Scavo and Shannon O’Toole, actually sued Favre and the Jets in 2011. They claimed they were blackballed by the team after complaining about suggestive texts from the quarterback.
One of the messages reportedly said: "Brett here you and crissy want to get together I’m all alone."
The lawsuit alleged that Scavo’s husband even told Favre to back off and apologize. Instead of an apology, the women claimed they simply stopped getting called for work. The Jets' massage coordinator reportedly sent them emails calling Favre a "pervert" but telling them to keep their mouths shut if they wanted to keep their jobs.
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It paints a pretty grim picture of the culture in that building in 2008.
Where is Jenn Sterger Now?
The scandal basically nuked Sterger’s sports media career at the time. She had a show on Versus called The Daily Line that got canceled right as the news broke. She was labeled as "a problem" by networks. Producers didn't want the baggage.
It’s actually pretty sad when you think about it. Favre went on to keep playing, eventually retired as a hero (before the more recent welfare fraud allegations in Mississippi started surfacing), and Sterger was left picking up the pieces of a reputation she didn't even choose to put on the line.
She eventually moved to Los Angeles. She pivoted to acting and stand-up comedy. She even worked for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) for a few years as a backstage interviewer and personality.
Key Takeaways for Navigating Modern Media
Looking back at the Jenn Sterger/Brett Favre situation through a 2026 lens, it’s a massive case study in how power dynamics used to work in sports.
If you're following this story or researching how to handle similar situations today, here are some actionable insights:
- Documentation is king. Sterger kept the messages, which was the only thing that gave her any leverage when the NFL started asking questions.
- Off the record doesn't always stay off. Be incredibly careful who you trust with sensitive information, even colleagues or "friends" in the media.
- Third-party intermediaries are a red flag. In Sterger's case, a team employee was used to facilitate the harassment. Recognizing when a workplace culture is complicit is the first step in protecting yourself.
- Reclaiming the narrative. Sterger’s decision to participate in recent documentaries shows that even 15 years later, it’s possible to set the record straight on your own terms.
The "Jets reporter" tag will probably always follow her, but she’s made it clear she’s much more than a footnote in a quarterback's controversial season.