The Sports Reporters has been off the air since May, but on Friday, word broke that the once prominent ESPN show will be returning in podcast form. It is important to note that ESPN isn’t involved this time around, but Mitch Albom and Mike Lupica are bringing the show back as an audio-only format that will appear twice a week.
The Detroit Free Press, which employs Albom as a columnist, reports that names like Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, William Rhoden of the New York Times, Lesley Visser of CBS, Christine Brennan of USA Today and Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News will be “part of the rotating cast,” but at its core, this appears to be a venture headed by Lupica and Albom. The television show changed quite a bit in the aftermath of John Saunders’ tragic passing in 2016, but at its core, it was a show centered on the opinions and personalities of national sports voices.
Lupica said the following about the re-launch.
“Every Monday and Friday, we tackle the big issues, the big personalities in sports. We’ll discuss and debate our perspectives on the sports of the day with a rotating cast of colleagues in the third chair. This new audio format allows us to easily bring in co-hosts and guests from all over the country.”
Albom believes that the new show will be “continuing the conversation” where they left off on the television side.
“We’re continuing the conversation that started 30 years ago on ESPN and bringing it fully into the 21st century. I’m excited to partner with Mike, our former Sports Reporters colleagues, and Cadence13 as we give fans even more of what they loved about the show in a new format that makes it easy to listen anytime.”
The big question, as it stands now, is whether the (very) traditional format employed by the original television show will be making its way to the podcast medium and if so, whether that can work. Still, there is certainly an audience (albeit an older one) for personalities like Albom and Lupica, and they will be putting that to the test twice a week.
