SportsCenter anchor John Anderson to leave ESPN this spring
One of SportsCenterās longest-tenured anchors will be departing the show and ESPN in the coming months.
John Anderson, who sits behind the desk for the 11 p.m. ET show typically and has been with the network since 1999, announced that he will be leaving the company at the end of June when his contract expires.
āThat will be the end. Iām going to leave the company. I am gonna sort of retire from āSportsCenter,āā Anderson said in a clip posted by the āThe Inside Wisconsinā show on social media Wednesday.
Anderson joined ESPN 25 years ago as an anchor on ESPNews. Anderson added that he will still be part of ESPNās track and field coverage, which includes the New York City and Boston marathons on top of NCAA meets, āwhich I love.ā He called track and field for Olympic Broadcasting Services during the Tokyo Games.
Anderson completed the New York marathon in 2010. He also hosted the reality television show āWipeoutā for a time.
āI am incredibly excited about that. Itās been a good run.ā
The āoperation has changed,ā Anderson said, of doing the nightly show.
āI donāt know that itās passed me by,ā Anderson said. āBut itās taken its toll and I still want to be able to do the best shows I can and I donāt know that in years 26 or 27 that I have the stamina to go through it again. So Iām done.ā
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Anderson mentioned potentially returning to any of the places he lived prior to his ESPN stint: Phoenix, Arizona; Arkansas, South Carolina, Missouri ā where he attended the University of Missouri ā or his native Wisconsin.
The full āInside Wisconsin Showā episode containing Andersonās comments will be released Thursday.
In the short snipped posted, Anderson said he doesnāt know what his future holds.
āI have some things in the fire,ā Anderson said. āBut āSportsCenterā will not be it anymore.ā
Last year longtime SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett announced he was leaving the show after a 23-year run at ESPN.