There’s truly no correct way to hear the news that your employment is no longer needed. If you work in media, there are all sorts of stories of how talent, staff, and management find out their employment is coming to an end. For Emmanuel Acho, he was on vacation in France. Enjoying downtime away from the grind of hosting The Facility on FS1 while the NFL season was nearing.
“I’m biking around the streets of France just minding my business. My agent calls me and says FOX is canceling the show [The Facility],” explained Acho. “There were rumblings. There was smoke before there was fire. Honestly, nobody found out from FOX. Twitter informed us before FOX did officially.”
In the moment, Acho—while on vacation—got right to work. Following his trip around the streets of the City of Lights, Acho returned to his hotel room and began to craft his next venture. A concept that his agent had been pressing him on for some time but which he found now was the right time to pursue. Fifty-four days after the news of his departure from FOX Sports, Acho launched Speakeasy.
“I sat on my laptop and said what’s next,” said Acho. “While I was in France somebody came up to me and said, ‘Acho, I love you on Speak [Acho’s former FS1 program].’ I hadn’t done Speak in twelve months. If you’re going to create a new show, leverage the IP of the show you spent months building. Now where is the vacancy in the market? It’s at night.”
Welcome to the Speakeasy
Speakeasy is a show that airs live on YouTube following every NFL game day, including Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays, immediately after the contests. There are Tuesday and Thursday episodes airing as well, but they are designed more for diving into topics outside of sports.
Acho hosts the program alongside his former The Facility co-host LeSean McCoy and comedian Kieran Hickey-Semple. The program was conceptualized by Acho as a show for the current generation.
Acho has spent time in traditional network sports television as an analyst for both ESPN and FOX Sports over his career. He says the format of Speakeasy is designed to react immediately following the games of the evening. Instead of the traditional standard for networks where topics are generated for the next day.
“We’re making a show for the year that we’re living in,” noted Acho. “I would suggest that sports television is one of the most outdated things in society. We’re still doing sports television like it’s the 1970s and 1980s. Why aren’t you sitting in the YouTube chat talking to the people that just watched the game? Why aren’t you looking at the social media clips that everyone is looking at, going viral, and talking about those clips?”
The Licensed Content Era
Following Acho’s exit from FOX Sports, he understood the trends in network broadcasting were not slowing down. He referenced ESPN’s licensing agreements with Pat McAfee and Rich Eisen, as well as Barstool Sports’ partnership with FOX Sports, as examples of where the industry is headed. In the same vein, Acho admitted the goal is to develop Speakeasy into a model that’s somewhat similar.
“Creating your own show isn’t the future anymore, it’s the present. If you look at both FOX and ESPN, about 50% of their programming from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. is owned by talent and licensed back to the network. This is no longer something that is down the line. This is where we are,” explained Acho. “I wanted to create a show that Netflix, Peacock, or Amazon Prime would come banging down my door asking me to license.”
The goal for Acho was a one-of-a-kind show. One that would beat everyone else to the marketplace of licensed content on network television or streaming platforms. To do that, he felt he needed the assistance of McCoy. A person Acho has known for nearly a decade and trusts like a brother. In pitching the idea to McCoy, Acho knew he would be the first person he had to sell on the concept.
“He’s one of the hottest people in the industry right now,” said Acho about McCoy. “To be able to work with somebody that I’ve worked with for the last four years and is extremely talented, that was exciting. I went to Shady [McCoy] with everything—I created, conceptualized, funded everything. This is Emmanuel Acho’s production.”
Reflections on FOX Sports
When Acho was let go from FOX Sports, he knew time was short to launch a concept before the start of the NFL season. In 54 days, Acho was able to secure talent, staff, equipment, and studio space to launch on NFL Opening Night as the Dallas Cowboys faced the Philadelphia Eagles. He noted he was solely focused on the venture with no eyes toward returning to sports network television for the season ahead.
“At this point, it’s all in on Speakeasy from a sports perspective. If I were to go to network, I would go to network outside of sports,” said Acho. “For sports right now, it’s irrelevant. Going to network would be like trying to put on your granddad’s suit. It’s not that it ain’t a suit, it’s not even that it ain’t nice. It’s just that it doesn’t fit you well.”
Acho believes talent should no longer see going to a network as the only goal. Though he understands that it could be for some. He says his resume is already loaded with experience hosting his own program and an Emmy win for outstanding sports personality in 2021. In search of what’s next, leaving FOX Sports may have served him at the right time to find something new.
Reflecting on his time with FOX Sports from 2020 until July of this year, he says the network supported him a lot through his tenure. Although Acho wished there had been more time for The Facility to continue on FS1, he noted the challenges of not only the network but also the daypart.
“It was like an expansion team going up against the 1998 Chicago Bulls in First Take in the same timeslot,” said Acho. “A new show, name, timeslot, and new talent. The network—I would have hoped for a longer runway, but I understand. If you don’t produce, you get cut. You’ve got to be better.”
Acho considers yesterday to be the best time to leap into the digital creator space for talent. He said if you didn’t leap in yesterday, the best time is today. Acho has high expectations and even higher hopes for Speakeasy being a smashing success despite the challenges and guardrails that prevent many from ever trying in the first place.
“What McAfee, Eisen, Barstool have done and what I’m doing—my God. It’s near impossible. I see why people don’t do it,” noted Acho. “It’s incredibly and highly expensive. It’s also incredibly difficult. I did it in 54 days—I would rather have done it in five months. The barriers to entry are there. They are definitely there.”
The plan for Speakeasy may circle around football as the NFL enters the third week of the regular season. The long-term plan for Emmanuel Acho is to expand into other sports as well. With the World Cup coming to the United States in 2026, the former NFL linebacker is looking to capitalize on the moment with a global audience on YouTube in search of content surrounding the event.
For now, Speakeasy is officially open for business, as Emmanuel Acho’s vision that began in the City of Lights looks only to the stars of tomorrow.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
