Jason Kelce and ESPN will not pursue a second season of They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce in 2026, Awful Announcing has learned.
The decision came from Kelce, who wanted to explore other opportunities during the offseason rather than commit to another run of the show. ESPN remained supportive of continuing the program and will work with Kelce on other projects going forward.
Jason Kelce announced the show on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in November 2024 and hosted five episodes from Union Transfer in Philadelphia during the final weeks of the regular season and playoffs. The show aired late Friday nights and early Saturday mornings on ESPN, with replays on ESPN2 and streams available on ESPN+ and YouTube.
The format drew from traditional late-night television but focused on NFL storylines and that weekend’s games. NFL Films produced the show in conjunction with Kelce’s Wooderboy Productions and Skydance Sports. Kelce brought in former Late Night with Conan O’Brien writers Andy Blitz and Jon Glaser, among others, to help develop comedy bits and sketches.
Kelce grew up watching Conan O’Brien and cited him as one of his late-night inspirations. The show’s name, They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce, was a nod to NFL Films’ 1967 film They Call it Pro Football, which Kelce wanted as a tribute to the company now producing his show.
The debut episode on Jan. 3 drew 290,000 viewers on ESPN. ESPN president of content Burke Magnus told The New York Times that same month that the network wasn’t focused on ratings for a five-episode late-night experiment, saying the decision about the show’s future would be “a little bit more art than science.”
In February 2025, Kelce acknowledged the show’s challenges on the Fitz & Whit podcast, saying it would have been easier to do a straightforward sports-talk show with panelists rather than pursue a comedy-driven format. He praised the writing team and acknowledged that he improved over the weeks, watching his own tape and identifying areas for improvement.
The show earned a Writers Guild Award nomination in the Comedy/Variety Talk Special category. The 78th Annual Writers Guild Awards will take place on March 8 in New York and Los Angeles.
Conversations about continuing the show took place throughout 2025, with discussions about potentially moving production from Philadelphia or adjusting the format. Ultimately, Kelce decided he wanted to try different things rather than commit to another season.
ESPN announced Monday that Jason Kelce will participate in select events during the offseason, including coverage of the NHL Stadium Series this Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for Lightning-Bruins. The network positioned the hockey assignment as part of a broader strategy to utilize Kelce in one-off opportunities rather than weekly programming.
Kelce remains under contract with ESPN as a featured analyst on Monday Night Countdown during the NFL season. ESPN will continue to work with Kelce on additional projects as opportunities arise, though no specific plans have been finalized.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.