ESPN vets in running to host 'Monday Night Countdown'

After letting go of Suzy Kolber last month, ESPN is considering either Scott Van Pelt or Laura Rutledge as her replacement on Monday Night Countdown.

According to the latest subscriber-only report from Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, the network is looking at both veteran sportscasters as they are already connected to its NFL coverage. Van Pelt hosts the 11 p.m. Eastern/late night "SportsCenter," one that Marchand considers the post-game show for MNF during the NFL season. Rutledge has hosted "NFL Live" since August 2020, and has also been a mainstay for the SEC Network, hosting "SEC Nation" since 2017.

Marchand notes there are logistical considerations at play when it comes to which person is pegged as "Countdown" host. Both Van Pelt and Rutledge will continue to do their shows, regardless of who is picked, yet the pregame is done on-location wherever MNF takes place. 

Van Pelt has done his version of "SportsCenter" from Washington D.C. since he was given the solo version of the show in 2015. Yet he recently told Sports Illustrated's Jimmy Traina that he doesn't see himself doing a nightly "SportsCenter" in three years. "My contract doesn’t run that long," he told the sports media reporter. "And there are conversations to be had about what all is part of it. At some point you just gotta step aside and let somebody else have it." Meanwhile for Rutledge, "NFL Live" is done from the network's Bristol studios. 

There's a history of on-air talent at ESPN traveling from one location for a pregame show to a completely separate location for a game broadcast - most notably Kirk Herbstreit and until recently his broadcast partner, Chris Fowler have done it for years. However, that is generally reserved for those who call games and not host pregame shows. It's hard to know if that sort of travel is in the cards, especially if Disney, ESPN's corporate parent, is still in cost-cutting mode after multiple rounds of layoffs and soon-to-be lack of original programming due to the concurrent strikes from both the actors and writers in Hollywood.

Beyond ESPN, no one has more frequent miles in television media than Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, who works both "Good Morning America" for sister network ABC in New York and "Fox NFL Sunday" in Los Angeles during the NFL season.

It would be interesting to see how the network manages either "SportsCenter" or "NFL Live" on the days after "Countdown" if either Van Pelt or Rutledge are given the job.