Jemele Hill and Michael Smith Headed To SportsCenter

The world wide leader is making changes to its line up. ESPN has announced that Jemele Hill and Michael Smith will be taking over the 6:00 PM SportsCenter hosting duties.

The two have been paired together since 2013 on His & Hers – which originally started out as a show called Numbers Never Lie with Smith and Charissa Thompson. Then later the show assed in Jalen Rose and Hue Douglas before finally hitting its stride with Jemele and Michael.

The new move becomes official February 6, 2017, the day after Super Bowl LI. They will replace the current anchor, Lindsay Czarniak. Both hosts have signed new, multi-year deals with ESPN.

The last His & Hers show will air at the end of this year, but the podcast will live on. The announcement of His & Hers replacement on the schedule will be coming in a few weeks, my expectation is that Jalen and Jacoby will slide into that spot.

ESPN has been tweaking its varied versions of SportsCenter to fit in with the changing viewing landscape. In 2015, ESPN  launched a late-night version with host Scott Van Pelt and SportsCenter AM – a more morning talk show type version – coming after that.

ESPN also announced a new multi-year deal with morning SportsCenter host Cari Champion – former host of First Take.