Fresh off signing Stephen A. Smith to a massive five-year extension worth about $8 million annually, ESPN may consider bringing one of his former teammates back into the fold.
Sources told Front Office Sports that ESPN may want to bring Skip Bayless, whose contract with Fox Sports expires in 2020, back to the network and reunite him with Smith on First Take.
“They both want to make it happen. I’m just not sure ESPN will hit Fox’s number,” said one source.
Bayless is under contract with Fox Sports expires until 2020 and is making a little over $6 million per year.
Smith and Bayless worked together on First Take from 2012-2016 and believe that their on-air chemistry is “unique,” sources told FOS. Max Kellerman replaced Bayless on First Take and, though the show still gets very good ratings, nobody thinks he and Smith are “a match made in heaven.”
Based on what Smith said during an appearance on YES Network’s CenterStage with Michael Kay in June, it sounds like he’d be open to reuniting with his former co-host.
“I mean no disrespect to anybody, but that’s my brother,” Smith said. “Skip Bayless and I are tight and we’re tight in a very different and unorthodox way. You’ll never see us hanging together. We might go out to dinner. His definition of a vice is Diet Mountain Dew. That’s Skip Bayless, he’s a devout Christian. I try to be. So we’re very different, but I’ll tell you for the purposes of a debate show, that’s my man.”
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