Earlier this week, Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak announced that he will be leaving Wheel of Fortune following its 41st season, ending a 40-year run with the show. Sajak, 76, will now be chairing the board for Hillsdale College, a private Christian school about 70 miles southwest of Ann Arbor, Mich. He had been the vice president of the board since 2003 and took on the new role after chairman William Bordbeck retired.
Naturally, there has been speculation abound regarding potential replacements for Sajak, who has been synonymous with the show throughout most of its existence. As he looks to expand his career into the realm of entertainment, Stephen A. Smith recently shared on his eponymously-named podcast that he is throwing his hat into the ring to be named to the job.
“I ain’t trying to give up my day job, [and] I ain’t giving up my podcast, but I got to tell you, if Wheel of Fortune called me to ask me to host the show for a couple of days, I wouldn’t mind,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t mind hosting that show while folks are trying to figure out what those letters mean and what it equates into.”
Smith grew up watching Wheel of Fortune with his mother, Janet, and trying to decipher the puzzles presented to contestants. Mike Stone and Jon Jansen reacted to Smith’s desire to try his hand at hosting the show on 97.1 The Ticket on Friday, introducing Smith as an active ESPN personality doing a lot of different things. They then exchanged potential names to take over the job both inside and outside of the world of sports. Stone suggested Tim Tebow as a potential replacement for Sajak, something that Jansen quickly scoffed at because of a perceived lack of personality. Conversely, Jansen pitched Kevin Hart and wittingly remarked that he may need a box to stand on, but also wondered whether or not he and his co-host would both have the same name. It turns out they did.
“My main one is Scott Van Pelt,” Stone said.
In a recent appearance on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina, Van Pelt expressed how he does not expect to be hosting SportsCenter in the next three to five years. After all, his contract expires before that point, and he recognizes the need to eventually step aside and let someone else take command of the program.
“If he is looking to branch out [and] do something else, he is witty; he’s smart; he delivers everything very well,” Jansen said of Van Pelt. “You know he’s going to do the work – I think he’d be great.”
While other names were considered throughout the segment – including Steve Harvey and Brian Williams – whomever the show chooses will likely need to make a decision conducive to both younger and older audiences. As a result, they feel Van Pelt, who has been in sports media for over three decades and a staple of The Walt Disney Company-owned ESPN, could be an ideal choice to join the show for the long run. Whether or not Vanna White will still be the model remains to be seen, as recent reports have suggested that she expects to move on from the show with Sajak.
“To be on as long as they’ve been on and [be] as iconic as they’ve been, they have adjusted the show from time to time,” Jansen said. “It’s evolved, and this is an opportunity for them to evolve even more. I think SVP would be really good.”
