Jim Gardner is going to retire next year. He’s cutting back his hours this year and will step away from the 11 p.m. news on 6ABC, then anchor the 6 p.m. show in 2022 before calling it a career.

He noted in a message to viewers on Wednesday night that he’s looking forward to actually watching a damn Sixers game from somewhere other than 4100 City Avenue:

It’s crazy when you think about it. The main anchors at the big TV stations work second shift, so they’re usually in by 3 p.m. or so. They anchor the 5pm/6pm/10pm/11pm, or whatever combination of shows the specific station broadcasts, and then they’re in their car and home after midnight. You miss your kids’ soccer game or dance performance or whatever extracurricular activity. You don’t have dinner with your family at all. And if there’s an event you want to go to, like Judas Priest at the Susquehanna Bank Center, you have to take off, which you’re not allowed to do during sweeps (the ratings period). It’s actually a very static and difficult lifestyle despite the fact that the O.G. anchors were making a couple of hundred thousand dollars per year. Key word “were,” because those salaries don’t exist anymore.

So good for Jim Gardner, real name James Goldman. We should get him a courtside seat at the Sixers. Maybe next to that lawyer with the long hair. Or M Night Shyamalan.