Shannon Sharpe signs contract extension to continue appearing as guest on First Take
Shannon Sharpe has signed a contract extension with ESPN to continue being a regular on “First Take,” the company announced Friday.
Sharpe will continue to appear alongside Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim through the remainder of the NBA regular season, the release states.
“Being a part of this family has been a blessing and everything about this relationship with ESPN, Stephen A. and First Take has been tremendous. I look forward to bringing my best as we continue to go head-to-head across different sports,” Sharpe said in a statement. “I’m very excited to talk hoops, and I expect to get off to a good start against Stephen A. when my team takes on his in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game on Friday!”
Sharpe, 55, made his “First Take” debut on Sept. 4, 2023, coming over to the network after seven years with FOX Sports. Sharpe and Skip Bayless starred on FS1‘s “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed”, which served as direct competition to “First Take.” Sharpe co-hosted his last episode of “Undisputed” on June 13 of last year.
Why did Shannon Sharpe leave Undisputed for First Take?
During an appearance on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” Sharpe outlined his reasons for leaving “Undisputed.” Sharpe said that he felt Bayless had lost respect for him and it became apparent it was time for a split. He cited a segment from December 2022, when Bayless seemed to minimize Sharpe’s Hall of Fame career.
“Tom [Brady]‘s still playing at a high level at 45 when you had to stop at 35, that’s the point,” Bayless said. “… [Brady]’s way better than you were. Way better.”
That, Sharpe said, hurt him.
“A lot of that is my fault,” Sharpe said. “Because there were times that led up to that that I felt shots were taken and I let it go. And I should’ve said something then, but I didn’t. And I would bring it to people’s attention, and they brushed it up under the rug. So that was my fault that it got to that point, and he felt that he could go over the top in that situation. I think in any relationship where there’s host, co-host… once one partner has no respect for the other, the other partner then in turn loses respect for said partner. Then, I think it’s only a matter of time. Because in that moment I had felt he had lost all respect for me. He had no respect for me.
“… I knew in that moment in time, it was only a matter of time. They were going to have to separate that. I knew that. Knew that. I was willing to play out the contract, but I knew it was going to end because he had started coming with greater, greater regularity, the disrespect. You can say I’m loud, you can say I’m obnoxious, you can say I’m arrogant. But to try to poo-poo my career, a seventh-rounder that started out on special teams and played so well that I got into the Hall of Fame. To try to minimize that was disheartening for me. … I considered Skip a friend. For you to take that kind of personal shot at me, it really hurt me, Stephen A. It really did.”