The long-running ESPN show “Around the Horn” is reportedly coming to an end.
Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post reported Wednesday that ESPN has decided to end “Around the Horn” effective next summer, concluding a 23-year run that began in the fall of 2002. Per Glasspiegel, who earlier this year was first to report that the move was under consideration, ESPN and “ATH” executive producer Erik Rydholm are expected to discuss options for a replacement program.
The ESPN 5 PM ET “Happy Hour” block of “Around the Horn” and “Pardon the Interruption” has aired continuously since the former’s debut. The last time “PTI” did not have “ATH” as a lead-in was during its first year in 2001, when the show followed the short-lived interview series “Unscripted with Chris Connelly.”
“Around the Horn” is just the latest long-running ESPN show to reach the end of its run. Dating back to the failure of “SC6” in 2017, ESPN has done away with most of the off-beat sports talk shows that dominated its lineup in the John Skipper era — including “High Noon,” “Highly Questionable,” “The Jump,” “Jalen and Jacoby,” and “SportsNation.”
By virtue of its two-decade run and its four-panelist format, “Around the Horn” has featured a laundry list of prominent sportswriters, from Woody Paige and Bob Ryan to more recently Pablo Torre and Mina Kimes. Between its looming cancellation and that of the other above-mentioned shows — to say nothing of “The Sports Reporters” — it seems clear that the early 2000s trend of sportswriters becoming television pundits has also reached its conclusion.
Once “Around the Horn” ends, the only sportswriters-turned-television pundits remaining in regular ESPN roles will be the “PTI” duo of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon and NFL Live analyst Kimes.
It is unclear what role host Tony Reali will continue to occupy for ESPN. After originally appearing as “Stat Boy” on PTI, Reali replaced Max Kellerman as host of Around the Horn in 2004 and has remained in the role ever since.
