Stephen A. Smith welcomes Shannon Sharpe on First Take, takes a side in beef with Skip Bayless
It wasn’t surprising at all to see Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless have a falling out recently. The two co-hosts of Fox Sports show, “Undisputed” have had a very up and down relationship since they started working together in 2016. Quite frankly, it’s surprising they lasted together as long as they did. There were millions of dollars and monstrous egos at stake.
Ultimately, Sharpe recently decided he had enough of Bayless. And the tandem for Undisputed is splitting up after the NBA Finals, per a recent report from The New York Post. On Friday, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith decided to welcome Shannon Sharpe on First Take.
Smith is one of the highest paid employees at ESPN, so his endorsement for Sharpe carries a tremendous amount of weight.
Check out what he had to say here.
“And that I don’t know what his plans are. I don’t know what he’s trying to pursue. I don’t know what he’s after. But if Shannon Sharpe needs me, I’m happy to be here for him. And if that included him wanting to come on First Take, the bosses at ESPN know that is something I would support,” Smith said on Friday on the Stephen A. Smith Show.
It’s not surprising to see Smith side with Sharpe. Bayless and Smith had a very good relationship for a long time and worked on First Take together. However, they recently had a recent falling out.
If Sharpe were to go to ESPN, he likely wouldn’t come with a cheap price tag. According to a report from Front Office Sports, the Hall-of-Fame tight makes around $3 million, half of what Skip Bayless makes.
Shelling out big amounts of cash would likely be frowned upon by the thousands of employees that ESPN just laid off. Not only that, the network also recently signed Pat McAfee for five-years, $85 million. McAfee is also currently recruiting Sharpe to ESPN, for what it’s worth.
More background information on Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless and why they are having issues
Fox Sports is looking for a strong personality to replace Shannon Sharpe on Undisputed. But Skip Bayless, Sharpe’s co-host, probably has the final say on the hire.
That’s according to Front Office Sports, which reported the detail, Friday. The site quoted unnamed sources with some behind-the-scenes details.
“Nothing happens on that show without Skip (Bayless),” the source told FOS. “They chose Skip over everything else. You can’t tweet about him, talk about him, anything – or they call you into the office. On Undisputed, he makes all the calls, even when he’s off.”
The same source said: “Skip is not going to hire anybody who challenges him – and he’s going to make the hire. So it’s a crazy deal. And here’s the kicker: you have to be willing to work with Skip, you’re going to have to put up with some s@@t, he has to approve of you. And you have to get up at 3:30 in the morning.”
Imagine having to set that early of an alarm to get up in time to deal with a dysfunctional personality.
Skip Bayless is a former newspaper sports columnist in Dallas who evolved into a type of shock jock on TV. He argues for the sake of arguing with takes that can best be described as contrarian.
Earlier this week, the New York Post reported that Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe were getting a TV divorce. Sharpe didn’t have Bayless’ media background. Instead, the 54-year-old former tight end honed his sports opinions by playing in the NFL and winning three Super Bowl rings. He’s also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Post said that Sharpe and Fox Sports have reached a buyout agreement. Sharpe will finish his time with Undisputed this month after the finish of the NBA championship between Denver and Miami.
Sharpe hasn’t spoken publicly about his departure and exit from Bayless. But the two gigantic personalities have butted heads this year. The Post said that Sharpe wanted to be an equal when it came to picking the topics the two would discuss on the show. Plus, Sharpe has a successful podcast in Club Shay Shay that he does without Skip Bayless. A fan posted on Twitter that he believed Bayless “couldn’t stand” Sharpe succeeding on his own. Sharpe liked the tweet. He also liked another tweet that suggested Bayless’ career would “nosedive” without Sharpe.
Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL star, also used to be a host on Fox Sports. He recently shared his opinion about the Shannon Sharpe-Skip Bayless dynamic.
“I think this is a case of the classic ‘Never outshine the quote, unquote master,’” Wiley said.
On3’s Suzanne Haliburton also contributed to this article.