After 34 years, Linda Cohn is retiring from ‘SportsCenter’ and ESPN

Linda Cohn will soon be departing ESPN.

Awful Announcing has learned Cohn’s contract expires at the end of the month, and the two sides could not agree on a suitable role for her moving forward.

After beginning her tenure at ESPN in Bristol, Cohn relocated to the Los Angeles area, where much of her family lives, and enjoyed the work-life balance of her role as host of the 1 a.m. ET SportCenter. Last year, ESPN opted to move the 1 a.m. SportsCenter back to its headquarters in Connecticut. Since then, Cohn’s role shifted to appearing on special projects on the network as plans for her to host SportsCenter in Connecticut fell through. The day of cross-country flights and hotel beds just didn’t seem like an ideal situation going forward after 34 years at ESPN, despite the best efforts of TSA PreCheck and Marriott Reward points.

An announcement is expected as early as tomorrow, with Cohn expected to host several editions of SportsCenter throughout the week to celebrate her time with the company. Cohn has the distinction of hosting the most episodes of SportsCenter in ESPN history, with her 5,000th show being celebrated in 2016.

For those who enjoyed the lively late-night SportsCenter of yesteryear, it’s been a slow drip of talent departures recently. In just the last few years, Kenny Mayne, Neil Everett, Stan Verett, and now Cohn have all left ESPN. Many have launched personal projects since their exits, with Everett and Verett reuniting to do a twice-a-week Twitch show. Cohn teased the possibility of a new chapter in her career earlier this month by plugging her YouTube channel on social media.

New Chapter. Join me. Creating content often. Let’s face it, I have a lot to say.😉https://t.co/V6Em6MPFC0

— Linda Cohn (@lindacohn) June 1, 2026

Cohn shared many great stories about her time at SportsCenter and ESPN on Rich Eisen’s This Was SportsCenter podcast last week, including the infamous Ken Griffey Jr. interview that became an early internet sensation and the “master batter” catchphrase that ESPN executive Norby Williamson shut down after exactly one airing.

34 years at ESPN is a hell of a run, and Cohn should receive a sendoff befitting her many accomplishments at the network during her final week.

ESPN confirmed Cohn’s departure following this story’s publication. In the network’s announcement, ESPN content president Burke Magnus praised Cohn’s contributions to the network.

“Linda Cohn is a legend and a major part of the history of ESPN,” Magnus said. “She has brought enthusiasm, personality and her love of sports to our audience for more than 30 years and her contributions to ESPN both in front of and behind the camera would make a very long list. We wish her all the best in her retirement and sincerely thank her.”

Cohn addressed the news later on Monday with a video on social media.

“Hey, I just wanted to pop on. What a day,” Cohn said. “With the official announcement that I’m retiring from ESPN, the main message I want to say is ‘thank you.’ Thank you for the support. Thank you for all the messages. Thank you for all the kind words. I’ve had happy tears all day. Every minute of this day. It just means so much that I’ve made this kind of impact when I was just doing something that I enjoyed and loved. Just being a sports fan, like you. There’s so much more I’m going to say, but right now, I wanted to make sure that I connected with you all as soon as I could. Just to let you know how grateful I am. I appreciate you. And I will try to respond to each and every one of you. But in the meantime, just two words- thank you. I’m leaving ESPN, but I won’t be going away. We’ll keep our connection. I can’t wait.”