Veteran ESPN SportsCenter anchor John Anderson said today that he will retire from the show at the end of June.
Anderson announced his decision on his podcast, Inside Wisconsin, which he co-hosts with Trevor Thomas.
“My contract runs out at ESPN at the end of June and I have decided that will be the end. I’m going to leave the company. I’m going to, sort of, retire from SportsCenter. I’m going to get to do a few track & field things, I’m going to continue to do the Boston Marathon, and the New York Marathon which I love, and some NCAA track meets, and some SEC stuff, and I’m, like, incredible excited about that”, Anderson said.
Anderson’s been with ESPN since 1999 and has been on ESPN’s late-night programming for the last two decades.
“I feel like it’s been a good run and the operation has changed, I don’t know if it has passed me by but, it’s taken its toll and I still want to be able to do the best shows that I can and I don’t know in years [2026, 2027] that I have the stamina to go through it again,” Anderson said.
Before landing at ESPN, Anderson was a sports anchor in Phoenix, Arizona, and had stops in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Columbia, Missouri before that. Anderson graduated from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree in 1987.
“I’m done and where I go next, I don’t know that I’ll be back to Wisconsin or Missouri or Arkansas or Phoenix or South Carolina. I don’t know what’s quite next, I have some things in the fire, but SportsCenter will not be it anymore”, Anderson said.