The Jump, ESPN’s daily basketball talk show hosted by longtime network personality Rachel Nichols, came to its unceremonious end on Wednesday. The news of its cancelation was reported by John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, which included a quote from ESPN producer David Roberts confirming that there’s now a hole in the network’s Monday to Friday afternoon schedule.
The report noted that Nichols could be done at the Worldwide Leader entirely, with her contract keeping her at ESPN for another year but the expectation being that she won’t appear on television. Whatever is next for Nichols is still very much up in the air, but shortly after the SBJ report dropped, she took to Twitter and celebrated the show as it reached its conclusion.
Got to create a whole show and spend five years hanging out with some of my favorite people ❤️ talking about one my favorite things 🏀 An eternal thank you to our amazing producers & crew – The Jump was never built to last forever but it sure was fun. 😎
More to come… pic.twitter.com/FPMFRlfJin— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) August 25, 2021
We do know that ESPN’s early plan is to put another basketball show in the spot formerly occupied by The Jump, which had been on air in recent weeks but saw Malika Andrews take over hosting duties. The difference would be in the format, as Andrew Marchand of the New York Post noted that ESPN wants it to look more like NFL Live.
ESPN will create a new daily NBA afternoon show. Look for it to be more like NFL Live, according to sources.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) August 25, 2021
Nichols is in the midst of her second stint with ESPN, having been with the company from 2004-13 before returning in 2016. She has come under fire in recent months as audio from a hot mic that Nichols had on during the NBA’s Orlando Bubble caught her saying that now-former colleague Maria Taylor got the opportunity to host ESPN’s Finals coverage due to the network’s poor record with diversity.
