Scott Van Pelt doesn\u2019t know if he\u2019s taking the 5 p.m. timeslot on ESPN. He doesn\u2019t have a rundown. He doesn\u2019t have a run of show. He doesn\u2019t know who\u2019d be part of it. But he knows ESPN wants to talk about it, and he knows they came close to making it happen with Ryen Russillo over the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have absolutely no idea,\u201d Van Pelt told Jimmy Traina on the SI Media podcast when asked if he\u2019s moving to the old Around the Horn slot<\/a>. \u201cAs we sit here right now, the only thing that was ever discussed \u2014 and I don\u2019t want to get too in the weeds with this because I don\u2019t want to speak for him, but it\u2019s been reported. Over the summer, Russillo and I talked about the idea of doing \u2014 we did SVP and Russillo years ago \u2014 we talked about the idea of could we do it in a TV format?\u201d<\/p>\n The conversation happened. Burke Magnus confirmed it publicly<\/a>. Van Pelt and Russillo discussed reuniting<\/a> more than a decade after their ESPN Radio show ended, this time in a 30-minute TV format at 5 p.m. The idea appealed to both of them. Russillo has built a successful podcast career. Van Pelt has cemented himself as one of ESPN\u2019s most valuable talents. Bringing them back together in a different format at a different time in their careers felt like it could work.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has a million different irons in the fire and options, and ultimately, we just couldn\u2019t get there,\u201d Van Pelt said. \u201cHe can sort of describe the reasons why; I don\u2019t want to speak for him. Other than I will speak for him in saying both of us were excited about man, wouldn\u2019t this be cool? Because we hadn\u2019t done that show in more than a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n Van Pelt explained the appeal. Russillo has created his own successful lane in podcasting. Reuniting at a different point in their lives in a TV format where they\u2019d have to be more nimble with only 20-some odd minutes of actual content felt challenging and interesting. But Russillo had too many options, too many irons in the fire, and ultimately the logistics didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n Van Pelt told Traina that the discussions had gone far enough that he started wondering if it would actually happen.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s being talked about, it\u2019s close to happening,\u201d Van Pelt said. \u201cBecause for that to happen at all means it was a possibility. \u2018Close to happening\u2019 means were there terms drawn up? No, we didn\u2019t have that, but we\u2019d gone through enough runway that I\u2019m wondering is this going to be a thing?\u201d<\/p>\n The pragmatics mattered. Russillo would have had to uproot his life in Manhattan Beach, potentially shelve other projects, and commit to a daily TV show. Van Pelt wasn\u2019t asking him to do that. But if they looked at the runway and thought about what it could become down the road, whether it could evolve into something more, whether it could be the last thing they do if it succeeded \u2014 that was appealing.<\/p>\n \u201cLook at Tony [Kornheiser] and Mike [Wilbon], man, they\u2019ll do it forever, and it\u2019ll be a great show forever,\u201d Van Pelt said. \u201cThat, to me, was appealing. The idea of something with someone you really like, and if it succeeded, that could work.\u201d<\/p>\n When that became not the direction this would go, then it became OK, so what would it be? Van Pelt doesn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n ESPN announced in March of last year<\/a> that Around the Horn would end after 23 years<\/a>, with the final episode airing May 23. The 5 p.m. slot has been filled with generic SportsCenter episodes ever since. The Athletic\u2019s Andrew Marchand reported in October that Van Pelt was a strong possibility for the permanent replacement, with Peter Schrager<\/a> and Brian Windhorst<\/a> also under consideration.<\/p>\n Burke Magnus told The Athletic at the time that ESPN tried to lure Russillo back to reunite with Van Pelt. \u201cThat was a bit of a selfish concept by me, because I was such a huge fan of those two when they were together years ago,\u201d Magnus said.<\/p>\n Russillo left ESPN in 2017 after the SVP & Russillo radio show ended in 2015. He joined The Ringer and built his podcast career before moving his show<\/a> to Barstool Sports<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n Magnus told Traina in November<\/a> that ESPN would like Van Pelt to do both \u2014 a daily show at 5 p.m. while continuing to host late-night SportsCenter after major events like Monday Night Football. \u201cWe would like to have a little bit of both worlds,\u201d Magnus said. \u201cIf 5 o\u2019clock happens, Scott would continue to do, let\u2019s take Mondays for example, he\u2019d continue to do Monday Night Countdown on the NFL, and since he\u2019s there, he would also continue to do SportsCenter after Monday Night Football.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love doing the shows that I do after the big events because there\u2019s nothing else like it,\u201d Van Pelt added. \u201cNothing. And I know that the players, the coaches, and the leagues all appreciate what we do and how we do it. I know that for a fact because I\u2019ve heard from them. And so I don\u2019t want to abandon that, and I wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n But what would 5 p.m. be? Van Pelt doesn\u2019t have the answer. He believes they\u2019ll talk about it because ESPN is interested in talking about it, and he appreciates that they\u2019re interested in talking to him about it. But he\u2019s not doing it just to open up his contract and leverage Stephen A. Smith\u2019s $20 million deal into a bigger number for himself.<\/p>\n Van Pelt claimed the money never interested him the way it interests Stephen A. Smith<\/a>, and that\u2019s fine. He doesn\u2019t care about anybody\u2019s money. He doesn\u2019t understand pocket watching people. When he heard Tom Brady<\/a> was getting $375 million from Fox, he thought it was unbelievable and then put it away. When he sees Brady doing Pizza Hut ads<\/a>, he wonders if Brady really needs the money, but that\u2019s the extent of his interest in what other people make.<\/p>\n \u201cYou get what you can get, and you be happy with what you can get, and you should get as much as you can get,\u201d Van Pelt said. \u201cThat\u2019s my philosophy on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Van Pelt told Traina he\u2019s more interested in the format than the money. Would he go from an hour to half an hour? Would there be more eyeballs at 5 p.m. than at midnight? His late-night SportsCenter is ESPN\u2019s highest-rated studio show because it follows games, so he wouldn\u2019t necessarily have more eyeballs at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m as famous as I need to be,\u201d Van Pelt said. \u201cI don\u2019t say that to be a prick, but I\u2019m 6-6, and I\u2019m bald, and I\u2019ve done this 25 years,\u201d Van Pelt said. \u201cI go out in the world and people know who you are. I\u2019m not worried about the numbers of people at 5 or 11. All that matters to me is it a show I want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Van Pelt doesn\u2019t know if he\u2019s taking the 5 p.m. timeslot on ESPN. He doesn\u2019t have a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,36384,42305,101960],"class_list":["post-699327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-scott-van-pelt","tag-si-media-with-jimmy-traina","tag-sportscenter-with-scott-van-pelt"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115945447510489692","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}