Sage Steele and Kevin Negandhi to Be New ‘SportsCenter’ Hosts

They'll be the permanent replacements for Michael Smith and Jemele Hill starting Monday.

Sage Steele attends Culinary Kickoff At Kentucky Derby at Muhammad Ali Center on May 4, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky.  (Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for #Culinary Kickoff)
Sage Steele attends Culinary Kickoff At Kentucky Derby at Muhammad Ali Center on May 4, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for #Culinary Kickoff)
Getty Images for #Culinary Kicko

Although the network has yet to make it official with a formal announcement, it appears that Sage Steele and Kevin Negandhi will take over as the hosts of SportsCenter starting Monday.

The 6 p.m. edition of the show, which has been using rotating hosts since Michael Smith and Jemele Hill were removed as co-anchors, will no longer be called SC6.

Steele and Negandhi have each been with the company for more than a decade and both have worked on SportsCenter before (including the latter anchoring SC after Smith and Hill’s removal).  

The move seems to confirm ESPN is sticking with the notion of keeping SportsCenter’s focus solely on sports, instead of branching into culture and politics as Smith and Hill did at times.

ESPN’s decision to replace Hill with Steele was not regarded as a good one by some who feel the network is catering to conservatives who called for Hill’s firing, including White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

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