Kenny Mayne Renews ESPN Pact

Kenny Mayne, SportsCenter anchor, has reached a new multi-year agreement to remain with ESPN in his current role. Mayne returned to the anchor desk in 2013 after a five-year absence. He’ll continue as a guest anchor of the 1 a.m. ET edition of the program, which is hosted by Neil Everett and Stan Verrett. He also will continue to be part of SportsCenter on the Road at select events and will produce features for the franchise.

"Happy to be back for more. It beats real work,” Mayne said. “I fly to L.A. for a week, watch sports and make up words. Sometimes I literally make up the words. Pure gibberish. But Stan and Neil seem to get me."

Terms of the contract were not revealed. The deal comes amidst ESPN laying off a few hundred staffers following significant subscriber losses.

Mayne will also be a featured contributor to the midnight ET edition of SportsCenter airing from Bristol.

“For 20 years, Kenny Mayne has placed his own indelible, if somewhat askew, stamp on SportsCenter,” said Rob King, ESPN senior VP, SportsCenter and News. “We are truly delighted that he'll continue entertaining fans, both from the SportsCenter set and from all corners of the sporting world.” 

Mayne joined ESPN in 1994 as an anchor on ESPN2 and became full-time SportsCenter anchor in 1997, remaining in that position until 2008. From 2008-2011, he produced and starred in an original scripted series on ESPN.com titled Mayne Street, then in 2011, he debuted Kenny Mayne’s Wider World of Sports on ESPN.com.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.