The end has arrived for the long-running Against All Odds with Cousin Sal podcast with Spotify. Sal Iacono made the announcement in the opening moments of the podcast’s latest episode published Wednesday evening.
“Well guys, as you know, today is a special episode because it’s our last one,” Iacono said. “This is our final episode together. The Ringer and Spotify have shuffled the deck and our podcast was not renewed.”
Iacono has been recording episodes of the podcast since its debut in 2017.
The news of the podcast’s cancellation comes just over a month following cuts made at Spotify representing a 5% reduction in headcount across The Ringer and Spotify Studios. According to Variety, the roles that were eliminated will be reallocated to support Spotify’s video podcast push according to a source familiar with the company.
“When I broke the news to the fellas a few weeks back, Harry was upset, angry, Darren was over the top grateful, and Brian laughed. What a sick sense of humor,” said Iacono of his co-hosts.
Iacono said he will remain involved at The Ringer, continuing his “Guess the Lines” segments alongside Simmons on The Bill Simmons Podcast during the NFL season. He will also stay on as a panelist for The Ringer’s Sunday pregame show.
He also hinted that there will an announcement next week with more details. The Ringer has made a noticeable pivot toward video podcasting in recent months, an area where Against All Odds did not have a significant presence.
Simmons has not commented on the podcast’s cancelation.
Spotify’s latest layoffs do not match the cutbacks the company made in 2023 when it laid off about 200 staffers. Starting in late 2023 and into early 2024, the company overall let go about 1,500 workers, representing 17% of its worldwide employee base.
With Spotify’s purchase of The Ringer, founded by former ESPN exec Bill Simmons, for about $250 million in cash in 2020, the company was bulking up its podcast content and technology capabilities, and the company also entered into exclusive deals with several top podcasters following.
