There’s never a good time to find out the show you’ve hosted for more than 20 years is coming to an end. But for Tony Reali, the timing of Around the Horn‘s impending cancellation came at an especially disheartening moment.
“The day I got the meeting and I’m being told to my face that the show is going away was an hour before I went on air,” Reali told Pablo Torre on the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out. “And the next day was career day at [Reali’s son] Enzo’s school. What does Enzo want to be? A sportscaster. Not just any sportscaster, the host of Around the Horn. And then that night, I’m hosting an event for the network; a big event, conference, people, paid money tickets, whatever. And this is the timing of it all and this is life. This is what I mean, to show everybody this is life and you got to still do the job you got to perform.”
The other thing about the timing of ESPN’s decision? It actually came in December, three months before the network officially announced the news publicly. The news, however, didn’t come as a total shock to Reali, as it followed a July 2024 New York Post report that the network was weighing in the future of the show.
Reali said he was reassured by higherups, but could sense that Around the Horn was on the clock. And in the time between the Post report and him being delivered the official decision in December, the former “Stat Boy” remained hopeful that he could save the show.
“I operated for months thinking, ‘well, we’ll do good shows. We’re still on in 120 countries. We’re going to perform and and we’ll change their mind,'” he told Torre. “I’m a ‘we’ll change their mind’ type of guy.”
Reali also revealed to the Washington Post’s Ben Strauss the changes he was willing to make.
“‘You want games? I can do games! You don’t like the mute button? It’s gone,’” Reali recalled telling executives, per Strauss. “‘You want me to bring streamers? I can bring streamers!’ I wanted to put our heads together. But the message was just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Then came the December meeting, in which Around the Horn‘s fate was officially sealed. As a result, the long-running daily debate show will host its final episode on Friday, May 23, albeit not for a lack of effort on the end of its longtime host.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.