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Retirement plans
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2021
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Retirement plans Retirement plans
We have various defined benefit retirement plans. Our principal defined benefit pension plan is the TEGNA Retirement Plan (TRP). The disclosure table below includes the pension expenses of the TRP and the TEGNA Supplemental Retirement Plan (SERP). The total net pension obligations, including both current and non-current liabilities, as of June 30, 2021, were $82.4 million, of which $7.8 million is recorded as a current obligation within accrued liabilities on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Pension costs (income), which primarily include costs for the qualified TRP and the non-qualified SERP, are presented in the following table (in thousands):
Quarter ended June 30,Six months ended June 30,
2021202020212020
Service cost-benefits earned during the period$1 $2 $1 $4 
Interest cost on benefit obligation3,988 4,879 7,938 9,737 
Expected return on plan assets(8,690)(7,779)(17,340)(15,529)
Amortization of prior service cost20 87 45 45 
Amortization of actuarial loss1,246 1,481 2,446 3,081 
Income from company-sponsored retirement plans$(3,435)$(1,330)$(6,910)$(2,662)

Benefits no longer accrue for substantially all TRP and SERP participants as a result of amendments to the plans in the past years, and as such we no longer incur a significant amount of the service cost component of pension expense. All other components of our pension expense presented above are included within the “Other non-operating items, net” line item of the Consolidated Statements of Income.
During the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, we did not make any cash contributions to the TRP. We made benefit payments to participants of the SERP of $1.8 million and $3.2 million during the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Based on actuarial projections and funding levels, we do not expect to make any cash payments to the TRP in 2021. We expect to make additional cash payments of $5.1 million to our SERP participants in 2021.