As Scott Van Pelt prepares for his last ESPN Radio shows with co-host Ryen Russillo, he’s speaking freely about his experience. Emboldened after signing a new contract that will bring an end to his radio show and make him a late night solo SportsCenter anchor, Van Pelt discussed his feelings with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch’s Sports Illustrated Media Circus his podcast.
Van Pelt first expressed the appreciation over the support from fans when it was announced that he would give up his radio show, Van Pelt said it was stunning how fans came out on social media to tell him they would miss the “SVP & Rusillo.”
Then he turned his salvos on ESPN Radio management for not giving their full endorsement to the program:
“It will always bug me the way it went. It will always bug me. I don’t have a massive ego. I don’t walk around here beating my chest about who I am. You can’t act like you’re not aware that you have a decent standing here, you know. I mean I get to do some good stuff.
“I’m in the spot where Dan Patrick was, a SportsCenter anchor who’s in a radio spot in the afternoon … and you think, ‘well if I’m a guy,’ whatever that means, but if I’m one of the main guys at this place and apparently they think enough of me to give me this opportunity on television, I won’t ever understand how it is that our radio show wasn’t treated better. And let me make it be clear, we weren’t treated like stepchildren and we weren’t Third World Nation status, but we were never quite as important.
“Mike & Mike’s a monster. We all understand that why it’s important as it is because of how much profit it generates for the place, and Colin? I don’t know the specifics of Colin’s (Cowherd) finances or whatever, but that show too has certainly profited up here and is important.
“It would have been nice if we could have found a home on TV where we didn’t get bounced around a lot and it would have been nice if we just felt like we mattered more and given whatever my standing is here, it never made sense. It will always baffle me that it wasn’t as important as I wished it would have been.”
SVP & Russillo was simulcast on ESPNews from 1 -3 p.m. ET, but was often pre-empted when other shows like His & Hers on ESPN2 or Outside the Lines took their timeslot when live events forced those programs to move to SVP & Russillo’s spot. Van Pelt added:
“Having said that, I’m not complaining at all about my lot in life and I get this great opportunity to do something on TV, but I loved our radio show. I’m as proud of it as anything I’ve done. It meant as much to me as anything I’ve done professionally.
“And we were right. Ryen and I were right. We knew if we just did our show the way we wanted to even though guys in the corner offices didn’t get it. Like I said on radio, I said this the day I was moving on, it was never for them! They weren’t supposed to get it. It was for people like us, our buddies, our idiot friends and there are a lot of our idiot friends out there in the world. And they found it.
“Our show grew more in the last two years than any show here.”
As you can see from Van Pelt’s quotes, he was immensely proud of his radio show and frustrated over how the show wasn’t as widely distributed as Mike & Mike and Colin Cowherd’s show, but appreciated how fans still found a way to listen whether it was online, through SiriusXM or podcasts. Van Pelt said, “I tried. I tried. And I think we succeeded.”
Van Pelt said and co-host Russillo never thought about being purposely contrarian or controversial to get management on their side. He told Deitsch that he and Russillo wanted to be authentic and not have contrived roles.
And he said management did try to make a fit for SVP & Russillo, but their daypart was difficult to slot with obligations to other shows. Van Pelt made it clear that he didn’t feel management was out to purposely hide the show.
Aside from Bill Simmons or Michelle Beadle, you rarely hear an ESPN’er speak out this freely about programming. Other staffers may talk about social issues or other topics, but this is interesting to hear inside shop talk from one of the stars and potential faces of the organization.
Now the next part of this story is whether ESPN management will respond or if they will allow this to pass without incident.
[SI.com]
