Scott Van Pelt is staying put. The longtime ESPN anchor confirmed that his late-night edition of SportsCenter will not shift to 5 p.m., ending speculation about a potential replacement for Around the Horn.
Van Pelt addressed the situation directly on his SVPod, offering insight into both the conversations and the final decision. While discussions about a possible move did occur, he made clear they never resulted in a mandate.
“We have had some lengthy, compelling, collaborative conversations that stretched over quite a bit of time that I really appreciated being a part of,” Van Pelt said. “The answer is, No, we’re not moving. We’re not going to change where we are for the time being.”
Importantly, Van Pelt emphasized that the process differed from a top-down directive. Instead, he described a rare level of input for on-air talent at a network level.
“If I’ve earned anything, this truly was a collaborative thing,” he said. “I work for this place. I work for them. If they said, ‘Hey, you guys are going to move,’ then alright, pick up our stuff and we’ll go, right? We work at their leisure… It was, there’s not a wrong answer here. What do you think? And so we thought, and I could never get mentally to the place of exactly what it would be.”
Even with that flexibility, Van Pelt admitted he struggled to envision the show in a different time slot. That hesitation ultimately played a role in keeping the program where it is. At the same time, he pointed to the existing 5 p.m. hour as a factor. The network’s current insertion of SportsCenter has performed well with viewers, reducing the urgency to make a change.
“What they’ve done at the five o’clock has resonated,” he said. “It’s done well. Hell, we could have screwed it up when if we came in. I don’t think we would have, but we could have.”
Beyond scheduling, Van Pelt also cited the continued success of his current show. The late-night edition of SportsCenter has remained a strong performer and continues to earn industry recognition.
“You still like what you do at night, right? I do,” he said. “It’s rating, right? It is. I don’t want to be tacky and chesty, but we got nominated for an Emmy. Again, that’s 10 of those. So your peers in the industry feel like you’re still doing the job at a level.”
That combination of stability and performance made the decision clearer over time. Rather than fix something that isn’t broken, both sides opted to maintain the status quo. Van Pelt also explained why he chose to publicly share the update himself. In an era where media news often breaks online, he wanted to address it directly.
“I just wanted to be the one to say it, rather than read it on the internet,” he said.
For ESPN, the outcome preserves consistency across two key dayparts. For Van Pelt, it ensures he remains in a role he still values. For now, at least, the late-night voice of SportsCenter isn’t going anywhere.
The 5 p.m. timeslot has continued to remain vacant from any ESPN orginial programm since the departure of Around the Horn in May of 2025.
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