Trey Wingo is putting the band back together. Nearly a decade after he last shared the NFL Live desk with them, Wingo is reuniting with Merril Hoge, Mark Schlereth, and Damien Woody for a new weekly show launching September 7.
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Wingo announced the show on his X account.
Front Office Sports reported Tuesday that former ESPN colleagues Merril Hoge, Mark Schlereth, and Damien Woody are joining forces for ‘The OG Football Show,’ a new spin on the show that made them all famous in football media.
All four worked together for years on ESPN’s NFL Live, and each one brings a strong football background. Schlereth won three Super Bowls with the Broncos and Redskins, Woody won two with the Patriots, and Hoge played running back for the Steelers and Bears from 1987 to 1994.
Truth is, Wingo had been hinting at this for weeks before it became official.
“What if I told you. We were putting the band back together?”
He followed that up with a simple “stay tuned” and a link to his YouTube channel, which was about as subtle as a freight train.
Now the details are out. Per FOS, the show drops every Monday on YouTube, breaking down the four best games from the weekend’s slate, with Wingo anchoring and the other three handling analysis, essentially the same setup fans grew to love on NFL Live.
It kicks off with a season preview on September 7 and runs all the way through Super Bowl 2027. It’ll also be available on standard podcast platforms, and Excel Sports’s Kevin Hopkins, Ryan Orozco, and KC Murphy are handling distribution and sponsorship deals behind the scenes.
The timing isn’t random either. This whole reunion comes just weeks after Wingo got tangled up in a spat with Emmanuel Acho, who claimed Ryan Clark was the only reason NFL Live ever worked. Clark joined the show in 2015.
Acho made that comment after ESPN laid off Clark in a recent round of company-wide cuts. Wingo, who hosted the show for 15 years, didn’t let it slide, firing back on social media with an infographic showing the show’s ratings had actually peaked over a decade earlier.
NFL Live averaged 688,000 viewers during the early-season period in 2013 and 624,000 in 2012. In contrast, the average dropped to 486,000 in 2015, and then tallied at 492,000 in 2016, 449,000 in 2021, and 440,000 in 2025.
Wingo also wrote, “‘Let your apology be as loud as your disrespect.’ I think someone said that once.”
Trey Wingo had worked with ESPN from 1997 to 2020, joining Pro Football Network in 2021. The other hosts are all network veterans.
As for how fans are reacting, it’s been a mix of excitement and playful ribbing.
“Throwback to an incredible show!” National sports radio personality David Shepard wrote on X. “Trey, any chance we can see @SeanUnfiltered (former NFL Live host Sean Salisbury) as part of the show as well?”
“This is outstanding,” sports analyst Rob Guerrera wrote. “Is Merril still going to wear a tie with the world’s biggest knot?”
And Joe Rutland leaned into the nostalgia factor.
“Hey Elwood, they’re getting the band back together. Nice to see you again, fellas. There is life after the Four Letter Network. The Wingo Network has a nice ring to it, Trey. Good luck, guys, and peace,” Rutland wrote.
“Ohhh baby The Legends are back!!!,” a fan wrote. “‘Subscribed’. Real Football analysis begins!”
“this is exactly what’s needed,” another wrote. “No hot takes, no fluff, just football.”
“I haven’t been this excited about a football show in a very very long time!” a user commented. “Can’t wait for this!!!!
Whether “The OG Football Show” can recapture the magic of the old NFL Live desk remains to be seen, but based on the early response, plenty of fans are ready to find out.