The spotlight has been on Shannon Sharpe as he prepares to exit FOX Sports and Undisputed with Skip Bayless, but there hasn’t been much talk about who will replace Sharpe on the debate show. On The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Monday, Dan Le Batard threw that very question out to his audience.

“If you liked that show in whatever incarnations that Bayless did it in, who do you put opposite him right now that you’d want to watch it the same way?” Le Batard said. He noted that there was just the right dynamic between Sharpe and Bayless before things started going south. “Because you’re hanging on to a 70-year-old star.”

Le Batard, who is 54, pointed out that there are examples of debate shows still chugging along with older hosts. Pardon The Interruption on ESPN came to Dan’s mind, but the point is that the landscape has evolved even in sports debate.

“Kornheiser and Wilbon are still doing it, but Shannon Sharpe is here to play a different game. Pat McAfee is here to play a different game,” Le Batard said. “There is a different game being played right now. ESPN is slashing costs, there are going to be fewer and fewer of these jobs.”

Suggestions of Emmanuel Acho and Chris Broussard for replacements were thrown out there, but ultimately Dan wondered who would subject themselves to the situation of having to constantly battle a guy like Bayless.

“Who wants to work next to someone every day that they don’t like so much that they would on their way out the door say ‘Shannon Sharpe would like your tweet,'” Dan asked.

Stephen A. Smith is ESPN’s top personality, and for a while he has been paid like it. But that will soon change as Pat McAfee joins the network.

It’s been reported that McAfee’s contract with ESPN to bring his daily sports talk show to The Worldwide Leader is worth $84 million. But McAfee has refuted that number.

Regardless, McAfee will likely become the new highest-paid ESPN talent. And Stephen A. is totally fine with that.

“You have so many people that are looking at what he’s getting paid, it’s no secret that even though you don’t know the numbers I make, it’s clearly more than I’m making,” Smith said on his most recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show.

“Number one, I don’t give a damn,” Smith added. “He negotiated his deal a few weeks ago, I negotiated my deal a few years ago – the situation is not the same.”

Smith has appeared as a guest on McAfee’s show, and has made it very clear that he actually admires and respects Pat for rising to the level he has in sports media and still remained largely free of any corporate creative control. He also said he was inspired by McAfee to branch out and start his own non-sports-specific podcast K[no]w Mercy, which has since rebranded to The Stephen A. Smith Show.

“I appreciate Pat McAfee,” Smith said, noting that his current contract with ESPN is coming up in a couple years and that he’ll have a chance to negotiate a nicer deal for himself. “You think I’m looking at Pat McAfee and I’m upset? I’m thankful! Thank you! Appreciate it bro, thank you very, very much. Today is your turn. Tomorrow’s mine.”

Stephen A. also said he couldn’t believe some of the hate Pat has received. Smith said an opportunity like McAfee has only comes about if you bet on yourself. He respects that, and he’s not going to rain on or hate on Pat.

“Hate on him? I admire what he has done, I respect what he has done,” he said. “So much so that I’m doing it. Thank you for playing a part in showing the way and the wave of the future.”

Chris Chelios will not be returning to ESPN next NHL season. Front Office Sports reports that the analyst has been told his contract is not being renewed. Chelios becomes the first name related to ESPN layoffs to become public.

Front Office Sports reports that ESPN was not dissatisfied with Chelios’s performance. He joined ESPN in 2022 ahead of the network reclaiming part of the NHL’s television rights.

The decision is directly tied to job cuts at the network. Chelios fit the archetype that ESPN is reportedly looking at as it decides where and who to cut. He is a well-compensated talent with an expiring contract.

Layoffs at ESPN are part of a larger effort to reduce costs at the Walt Disney Company by around $5.5 billion. More than 7,000 jobs are expected to be lost across all sectors of the company.

Chelios is a three-time Stanley Cup Champion, having won the title with the Montreal Canadiens in 1986 and twice with the Detroit Red Wings. He is also an eleven-time All-Star and three-time winner of the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman.