Get out of the way Around the Horn, Tony Reali is back with Around the Room.
The longtime ESPN host, whose signature 5 p.m. show was canceled this spring, gave sports fans a taste of what his next step could look like on Wednesday evening. In a stream on the sports watchalong service Playback, Reali was joined by four popular content creators for a digital version of the long-running show called Around the Room.
In the inaugural episode, Around the Room focused on the NBA. Reali rifled through news stories including the revamped NBA All-Star game, the Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland’s load management. True to form, Reali pushed the panelists to be concise and convincing while prohibiting words like “narrative.”
It was a fascinating glimpse of how Reali could merge his curiosities about the modern digital media environment with his strengths as a host.
Playback is a streaming platform designed primarily for sports commentators to broadcast over the top of live games and other video content. By striking partnerships with top American sports leagues, Playback is aiming to effectively become a Twitch stand-in for sports fans and creators.
During a media blitz leading up to the end of ATH, Reali positioned himself as a candidate for everything from a daytime talk show to children’s programming to even Inside the NBA or the Olympics.
Since leaving ESPN, Reali has mostly laid low. Aside from a weeklong stint in Miami with The Dan Le Batard Show, the host has primarily connected with his audience through a Substack newsletter. The rest of his “Real Ones Universe” will seemingly be focused on online content, as his first job postings were for a social media coordinator and YouTube producer.
So while the Around the Room show on Playback was a fairly meager experiment with fewer than 600 viewers, the online format built around creators could show us where Reali’s head is at looking forward.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.