‘The Sports Reporters’ Returns on YouTube

After much discussion, ESPN has finally revived The Sports Reporters, although it will only be available on YouTube. On Monday, Jeremy Schaap tweeted details about the first episode, which is set to premiere on Tuesday.

Last month’s report by John Ourand from Puck already hinted at the revival, revealing that the first episode had been filmed. However, questions remain about the new project’s connection to the original The Sports Reporters. The original show aired on ESPN from 1988 to 2017 and was hosted by Gary Thorne, Dick Schaap, John Saunders, and Mike Lupica. It primarily featured journalists known for their print work. In contrast, the new episode features NFL play-by-play voices like Joe Buck, Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, and Mike Tirico, none of whom are known for their print journalism.

The conversation between Schaap and these NFL PXP voices is definitely intriguing and seems worthy of ESPN’s platforms. Oddly, despite its potential, it is only available on YouTube and not on ESPN’s main network. This decision raises some eyebrows, especially considering other ESPN shows like SC: Featured, E:60, or Outside The Lines might have been a more fitting platform for this type of content. Jeremy Schaap is the only participant who can be described as a reporter, which adds to the skepticism expressed by Mike Lupica about this revival.

Lupica shared his concerns during an interview with Michael Kay of ESPN New York. He mentioned that if ESPN intended to revive the show, they should do it properly and not in a “half-a**ed way.” Lupica further stressed that he would suggest airing it on Sunday mornings at 9:30, a time slot he believed it should have never left.

“If they’re going to bring it back, do it right and don’t do it in some half-a**ed way. …I just don’t want it to be a reboot that doesn’t work. And if they want to put The Sports Reporters back on television, I’ll tell them what they can do. Put it on Sunday morning at 9:30, which is when they never should have taken it off of.”

In the same interview, Lupica blamed ex-ESPN president and current Meadowlark Media figure John Skipper for taking the show off the air. “Why did it go away, Michael? Because a chucklehead named John Skipper at ESPN canceled it, that’s why,” Lupica said, adding that they hadn’t lost any rating points or sponsors. Skipper, who left ESPN in December 2017 after a scandal involving his cocaine dealer, is now featuring in business discussions alongside ex-Miami Marlins president David Samson on a Meadowlark podcast.

“Why did it go away, Michael? Because a chucklehead named John Skipper at ESPN canceled it, that’s why,” Lupica told Kay. “We hadn’t lost a single rating point, we hadn’t lost a single sponsor. To this day, nobody (knows).”

Although Skipper might be to blame for the program’s initial exit in 2017, he isn’t responsible for the current, somewhat unfamiliar revival of The Sports Reporters. It will be interesting to observe the audience’s reaction to this “revival” and to see where ESPN plans to take the brand from here.

[Jeremy Schaap on X/Twitter]

Source: Awful Announcing