• Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA on 20th June 1985
• A sports reporter, specializing in golf, for CBS network
• Raised in Pennsylvania, and attended Hofstra University for Broadcast Journalism
• Worked for CBS 2, ABC News Now, New York Islanders, and PGA Tour
• Net worth estimated at close to $1 million
Contents
Who is Amanda Balionis?
Amanda Balionis was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA, on 20 June 1985 – her zodiac sign is Gemini and she holds American nationality. She’s a sports reporter, who’s probably known best for her love for golf, as she’s covered golf events organized all over the world for the CBS network.
Early life and education
Amanda was raised in Pittsburgh an only child, by her father Tony Balionis and her mother Dana Balionis, however, nothing is known about her parents as they prefer to avoid the media.
She became interested in golf at a quite an early age, as her father was once an avid player and often took Amanda with him when he was to play with friends.
Because she showed great interest, Tony even enrolled her at a golf school, where Amanda was apparently the best amongst her peers. When she was ten, the family moved to Lancaster in Pennsylvania, and she attended Manheim Township High School, at which she played various other sports including tennis and soccer, and also became interested in journalism, and wrote for her school’s newspapers. Upon matriculating in 2004, Amanda enrolled at Hofstra University, from which she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism in 2008.
Career as a sports reporter
Amanda launched her career while still at university, working at the WRHU radio station, a student broadcast radio which has won three Marconi Awards for National College Radio Station of the Year.
She also wrote for the student newspaper – “The Chronicle” – and was a member of the Association for Women in Communications.
Still before graduation, Amanda became an intern at CBS 2, which is amongst the most popular networks in the US, owning and operating KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, California, KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh where Amanda interned, and WBBM-TV in Chicago, Illinois; it also has 11 other affiliated stations. After three years at CBS 2, Amanda decided that she hadn’t learned the ropes yet, and thus joined ABC News NOW as an intern, spending a couple of months with them before moving on to work for the professional hockey team the New York Islanders, competing in the National Hockey League (NHL).
She covered many games for the Islanders, and then she moved on to work for the professional American Football team the New York Jets, competing in the National Football League (NFL).
In 2008, Amanda joined “Lancaster Newspaper” as their journalist and reporter, and was in charge of producing and editing various sports-related videos, as well as hosting a weekly online show. After her skills were noticed by various scouts, she was invited to join the network Verizon Sports as their freelance sideline reporter, where she was mostly in charge of covering the Rutgers Women’s soccer and basketball teams.
This venture lasted for around four months when she joined the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Network as their sideline reporter, and could’ve been seen appearing in their show “High School Game of the Week”. She soon found herself working for MSG Varsity as their volleyball commentator and features reporter, in charge of covering various volleyball as well as football events.
In March 2011, Amanda was invited to join the PGA TOUR team, and served as their anchor and reporter for five years, during which she could’ve been seen hosting the show “PGA TOUR Today” as well as a couple of others, and was also invited to make a guest appearance in many other TV shows.
In April 2016, Amanda’s dreams finally came true after she was invited to work as a host for Callaway Golf, and her passion for golf was immediately noticed and in 2017 she was invited to join the CBS Sports Golf Team.
She continues working at CBS, which is amongst the most popular networks in the US; Amanda has been in charge of their mobile 72ins SmartCart screen for over a year now, and could’ve been seen hosting many of their shows and TV specials related to golf.
Presence on the internet
Amanda’s also quite active on the internet, which is somewhat expected of her as she’s a popular reporter. She’s followed by more than 180,000 people on Instagram, on to which she’s uploaded over 2,300 pictures, most of which have been taken during her everyday life. Amanda’s also very active on Twitter, as she tends to tweet several times every day, and has gathered around 125,000 followers since she joined the network in October 2009.
Husband and kids
Amanda hasn’t shared a lot with the public concerning her love life, however, it’s known that she’s today in a relationship with the former American Football player and now coach Bryn Renner. The two apparently met on a blind date, and have been together for around a year now.
Bryn’s five years her senior, as he was born on 22 January 1990, in West Springfield, Virginia, thus making his zodiac sign Aquarius and his nationality American. He attended the University of North Carolina, and played football for the university’s team from 2009 to 2013, being a starter for the Tar Heels from 2011 to 2013. Upon graduating, he joined the Denver Broncos, but was soon transferred to the Arizona Rattlers competing in the Arena Football League (AFL). He quit playing in 2016, and today Bryn’s coaching the Florida International University Panthers.
Neither of the two have spoken about any other people they have perhaps been with before meeting each other, so as of March 2021, Amanda’s dating Bryn Renner, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
There have been some rumors circulating the internet claiming that Amanda’s a married woman, and that she gave birth to her daughter back in 2016, but none of this has been confirmed nor has Amanda commented on these rumors – it would be hard to hide a child in her work!
Hobbies and other interests
Amanda’s a huge animal-lover, with her favorite animals being dogs and cats. She has volunteered various times with ‘K9 with Warriors’, and has helped organize several fundraisers for the dogs at shelters waiting to be adopted. Amanda can occasionally be seen training shelter dogs, and preparing them for the life of service dogs.
She loves to dress up, and doesn’t usually skip on an opportunity to dress-up for Halloween, or any other costume party.
Amanda’s very sporting, and has multiple training sessions at the gym each week, thus her fit appearance. She’s also a partner with the sports drink and nutrition company BioSteel.
She’s keen on watching movies late at night, and a couple of her favorite actors and actresses are Leonardo DiCaprio, Jim Carrey and Rosario Dawson, and some of her favorite films include “Titanic”, “Inception” and “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective – When Nature Calls”.
Age, height and net worth
Amanda’s age is 35. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, her height is 5ft 5ins (1.65m) and she weighs around 130lbs (59kgs).
As of March 2021, her net worth has been estimated at close to $1 million.