Sports TV News

ESPN Considering Skip Bayless Return to First Take

“Skip’s replacement, Max Kellerman has helped First Take reach new audience records alongside Smith, but if ESPN believes Bayless can bring the show to another level they will explore that potential.”

Published

4 years ago

November 12, 2019

Brandon Contes

Less than one week after ESPN made Stephen A. Smith their highest paid employee with an annual salary of nearly $8 million, the network might still have room in their budget to target another prominent sports talker.

According to a report by Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, ESPN is interested in reuniting Stephen A. Smith and his ex-First Take partner, Skip Bayless. Stephen A. and Bayless worked together on First Take from 2012 – 2016, before Skip made the move to FOX. The current host of Undisputed with former NFL tight-end Shannon Sharpe on FS1 is set to see his 4-year $25million deal with FOX expire in 2020.

One source told McCarthy, “They both want to make it happen. I’m just not sure ESPN will hit FOX’s number.” FOX will most likely be interested in retaining Bayless, which could lead to a bidding war between the networks. FOX could also potentially re-sign Bayless before he becomes a free agent.

As one television executive warned McCarthy, “The era of modern sports talent is here. The top 1% will make the big money. The middle will go away. And low paying talent will fill out the grid.”

While ESPN has shown a willingness to invest large sums of money in talent, it wasn’t long ago when cost cutting strategies resulted in two substantial rounds of layoffs in 2017, eliminating hundreds of employees.

Skip’s replacement, Max Kellerman has helped First Take reach new audience records alongside Smith, but if ESPN believes Bayless can bring the show to another level they will explore that potential. First Take currently averages between 400,000 and 500,000 daily viewers with Stephen A, Kellerman and Molly Qerim Rose on the show. FS1’s Undisputed featuring Skip, Shannon and Jenny Taft regularly garners audience numbers between 150,000 and 180,000 per day.

Stephen A. Smith’s new ESPN contract includes responsibility changes, led by giving up his daily radio show. Max Kellerman has since been publicly considered as a possible successor. It’s possible ESPN could look to utilize all three personalities as full-time contributors to First Take, but it would seem more likely that if Bayless returns, it would be as a replacement for Kellerman, who signed a multi-year extension with ESPN last December.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.

Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at [email protected].

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Sports TV News

Scripps Sports Exec: Teams Are Making Contingency Deals For After Bally Sports Bankruptcy

Lawlor said that Scripps Sports “already has deals in place with at least a couple of teams as a contingency in case Bally halts broadcasts before the end of the 2024 season.”

Published

10 hours ago

November 30, 2023

Jordan Bondurant

With the writing on the wall that Diamond Sports Group will drop its regional sports contracts after next year, entities like Scripps Sports are bracing for additional opportunities to work with various teams.

Scripps Sports president Brian Lawlor recently said teams and leagues are already thinking ahead.

“There’s a lot of contingency planning by teams and leagues to have distribution options if the creditors pull the rug out early,” Lawlor told Cincinnati Business Courier. “It’s really messy right now.”

Lawlor added that Scripps has already been involved in contingency planning with those leagues and teams, with talks having gone on for months in some instances.

“(Scripps) already has deals in place with at least a couple of teams as a contingency in case Bally halts broadcasts before the end of the 2024 season.

Scripps Sports already stepped in to help provide a new TV home for both the Vegas Golden Knights and the Arizona Coyotes. Lawlor said returns with those teams, particularly in Vegas, have been great.

“We’ve been blown away by the Golden Knights over-the-air ratings and the number of people who have subscribed to direct-to-consumer,” he said.

Jordan Bondurant

Jordan Bondurant is a features reporter for Barrett Sports Media. He’s a multimedia journalist and communicator who works at the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond. Jordan also contributes occasional coverage of the Washington Capitals for the blog NoVa Caps. His prior media experiences include working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Danville Register & Bee, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, WRIC-TV 8News and Audacy Richmond. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @J__Bondurant.

Sports TV News

Bob Iger: ESPN Could ‘Go It Alone’ and Not Take Financial Partners

“We are fully prepared to do that. It would be a little more challenging if we did.”

Published

10 hours ago

November 30, 2023

Jordan Bondurant

Courtesy: CNBC

As Disney continues to consider selling an ownership stake in ESPN, Disney CEO Bob Iger told employees he’s not ruling out the possibility of not bringing in new financial partners.

Front Office Sports reported Wednesday that Iger spoke at a Disney town hall on Tuesday and there’s no requirement in place that says Disney must seek out new investors to maintain ESPN’s financial future.

“We could go it alone,” he said. “We are fully prepared to do that. It would be a little more challenging if we did.”

Disney has already had some level of conversations with potential partners including pro sports leagues and big tech companies.

Jordan Bondurant

Sports TV News

NASCAR to Announce $1.1B Rights Deal with FOX, NBC, Prime Video, TNT

The $1.1 billion figure represents a nearly 40% increase in what the organization receives from its current deals.

Published

18 hours ago

November 29, 2023

BSM Staff

A photo of the NASCAR Cup Series, FOX, Prime Video, TNT, and NBC Sports logos

NASCAR is on the verge of announcing a new TV rights deal that will see the racing organization bring in $1.1 billion annually from five TV partners.

The $1.1 billion figure represents a nearly 40% increase in what the organization receives from its current deals.

Beginning in 2025 and running through the 2031 season, NASCAR will air its first 14 Cup Series events with FOX and FS1. The next five events will air on Amazon Prime Video, making the first time a NASCAR event will be shown exclusively on a streaming service.

Following Amazon’s portion of the schedule, another five events will be broadcast on both TNT and the B/R Sports tier of the Max streaming service. The final 14 races of the year will be broadcast with NBC, USA Network, and Peacock, according to reporting from Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern.

Previously, FOX Sports aired 18 races, while NBC aired 20, which includes two exhibition events.

In addition to its new deals with Amazon Prime Video and TNT for the Cup Series, NASCAR also has a previously announced new broadcast agreement with The CW to air each race of the Xfinity Series.

The upcoming announcement, which is expected either Wednesday or Thursday, comes on the heels of NASCAR President Steve Phelps admitting new TV partners would be entering the fray in the next contract.

“We are going to have an additional partner and we may have two additional partners,” Phelps told NBC Sports. “That’s kind of where we’re trying to figure out in these last few weeks — what that’s going to look like, but we already know we’re going to have more partners.”