As Shannon Sharpe gave a heartfelt goodbye to his longtime Undisputed co-host Skip Bayless, it marked the end of a near seven-year run together on FOX Sports 1. For two-and-a-half hours each morning, Sharpe and Bayless would debate the sports topics of the day and help define an era of debate television. Directly opposing them for most of that time was First Take on ESPN, a show that they had both been a part of in varying capacities over the years.

Stephen A. Smith, working alongside analyst Max Kellerman and host Molly Qerim, engaged in a similar format before the show adopted a new format in late 2021. As Smith utilized the deep ESPN talent pool to have experts on different topics oppose him, the show grew in popularity and, at times, left Undisputed significantly behind in the ratings.

Sharpe is now a member of First Take and is contributing to the program on Mondays and Tuesdays throughout the football season. At the same time, he is building Shay Shay Media with his flagship Club Shay Shay Podcast on The Volume and working to produce content in tandem with the media brand.

Nonetheless, he misses working with FOX Sports 1 on a daily basis because of all the people on the lot aside from the show itself. From the security guard that would walk him to and from his car every day to those in wardrobe, props and in the cafeteria, no longer being able to see them for 240 days throughout the year has been a difficult thing to come to terms with.

“People don’t understand just how hard I worked at that job,” Sharpe said in a recent interview on The Stephen A. Smith Show. “What they saw was the two-and-a-half hours a day, but they didn’t see the prep – the six-seven hours of prep time I actually did to get ready for the show [and] the re-watching of the entire show to try and get better.”

After Sharpe completed his protracted answer to Smith about the things he misses most regarding FOX Sports, the First Take featured commentator elocuted an observation he made therein.

“You do understand that in that lengthy answer that you just gave to my question, you did not mention Skip Bayless one time,” Smith said. “You do know that.”

There were reportedly growing tensions between Sharpe and Bayless that ultimately led to the latter’s exit from the network. When Sharpe officially departed, Bayless and FOX Sports 1 management began work on compiling a new cast and format for the program, which relaunched earlier this month. Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson, Richard Sherman, Rachel Nichols, Josina Anderson and Lil’ Wayne have all appeared on the show as contributors, facing off against Bayless, an institution and influential professional in the format.

Sharpe has gone on the record numerous times to thank Bayless for everything he did to welcome him to the network and create a stellar program. The part that he revealed to Smith was that they did not have much of a relationship off of the set, even within the corridors of the production facility.

“Skip would get to work; I would get to work,” Sharpe described. “I was in my dressing room; he was in his dressing room. It was really like a heavyweight fight. We barely talked…. [and] it was not a carry on a conversation and then, all of a sudden, we get up there and do what we do…. It was very little communication.”

Some of the public perception of Sharpe’s time on FOX Sports 1 and the split he had with the network adopted the notion, “Skip Bayless made Shannon Sharpe.” The remark perturbs Sharpe, who was a three-time Super Bowl champion and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame before he started working at the network. As one of the most accomplished tight ends in the history of the National Football League, he had already been enshrined in the history of the game and sports as a whole in perpetuity. The aspect of his being that FOX Sports 1 helped him with was in becoming more popular and well-known, and it is something he owes to Bayless and the program itself.

“Skip Bayless did not make Shannon Sharpe relatable. Skip Bayless did not make Shannon Sharpe the storyteller that he is [and] Skip Bayless did not make Shannon Sharpe the football player that can break down plays,” Sharpe articulated. “….I miss debating him, but it had gotten to the point over the last six-seven months – and I won’t allow it to ruin the six great years that we had – but it had gotten to the point that we needed to go our separate ways.”

Three months after Pete Bevacqua stepped down as the chairman of NBC Sports to become the new athletic director at the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater, the company has decided on its next leader. Rick Cordella, who has been with NBCUniversal since 2006 serving in a variety of different roles, has been promoted to the role of “President, NBC Sports,” and will report directly to Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group.

Cordella most recently served as the president of programming for NBC Sports and Peacock Sports, a role in which he oversaw strategy for the sustained growth of both platforms. Peacock will be the exclusive home of a game within the NFL Wild Card round on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, marking the first time such an occurrence is taking place. Cordella was an integral member of the founding team for Peacock and served as the chief commercial officer for the over-the-top (OTT) streaming service. Under his leadership, NBC Sports garnered the accolade for the most-streamed Olympics and Super Bowl in history as the platform more than doubled its subscriber count year-over-year (YoY) to 24 million.

The six-time Sports Emmy Award winner began his tenure with the company within its fantasy sports properties, specifically overseeing Rotoworld and a variety of additional websites under its purview. Cordella was also a board member of FanDuel and represented NBC Sports on behalf of its investment in the sportsbook and gambling company. Additionally, he also has experience in digital media and has worked on the launch of several direct-to-consumer and online services, including NBC Sports Gold, ProFootballTalk and NBCSports.com, while also outlining content and editorial strategy.

“Rick has been at the epicenter of NBC Sports for years with a proven track record of growth and innovation across all platforms, particularly our flagship NBC network as well as Peacock, where he helped architect our leadership role in sports and streaming,” Lazarus said in a statement. “Rick will oversee the evolution of our business as we continue to offer the best experiences and content to our viewers, as well as be the best partner to leagues and rights holders.”

NBC is in the second year of a $20 billion media rights contract with the National Football League, primarily centered on its Sunday Night Football property. The lead broadcast booth of Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth and Melissa Stark is in its second season working together. NBC also started broadcasting Big Ten Conference football games this fall with its new B1G Ten Saturday property featuring Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and Kathryn Tappen.

The company recently reacquired the rights for WWE SmackDown, which will air weekly starting in Oct. 2024 on USA Network, and will produce four specials in prime time each year as part of the deal. NBC is paying $7.75 billion to broadcast the Olympic Games through the 2028 festivities in Los Angeles, Calif., and has been working with Major League Baseball to present an exclusive Sunday morning contest on Peacock each week. These properties, plus other aspects of its business, will be under the leadership of Lazarus, Cordella and other executives at the company.

“It’s a continuation of what we’ve been doing,” Cordella told John Ourand of Sports Business Journal. “It’s less about this being the start of a new day and more about how we’re going to keep executing the way we have.”

When video circulated of Stephen A. Smith’s ceremonial first pitch prior to the New York Yankees’ matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night, he was promptly chided and excoriated for bouncing it to home plate. Many celebrities inside and outside the sports media world chimed in on the situation, and First Take fans left comments in eager anticipation for the episode the next morning. The interest was heightened when show host Molly Qerim posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she would be taking live callers to “discuss that atrocity on the mound” by Smith.

Qerim helped orchestrate what she called a “telethon” and ensured Smith heard from a variety of people associated with the show about the delivery. First Take contributors Shannon Sharpe, Dan Orlovsky and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo submitted video messages that played live over the air throughout the episode – much of which was focused on the moment. Smith even practiced throwing a baseball in the studio during Thursday’s edition of the program and spoke about how he would wind up from the mound rather than the cut of the grass in front of it.

“Stephen A., I know you’re the executive producer, but today I am,” Qerim said. “I’d like the sound from last night of Stephen A. in the [YES Network] booth; could we get that please?”

At Qerim’s request, First Take shared what Smith said with Michael Kay in the television broadcast booth last night. During his appearance, he discussed how he felt when he took the field and recognized the magnitude of the situation.

“I was warming up down there – I was throwing strikes from 60 feet away – and I got on that mound and it looked like it was a mile away,” Smith said. “I said, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’…. There’s no excuse; there’s no excuse. It was a choke job.”

Throughout the episode leading into the weekend, messages from celebrities including Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg were displayed on the air, along with a live call from television host and producer Steve Harvey. Qerim, however, was saving a moment that would rattle Smith towards the end of the show when she revealed that Smith’s beloved sister, Carmen, was on the line.

“Steve, I taught you better than that,” Carmen said. “I had to look at it over again and say, ‘Did he just do that?’ And then hearing that you had a hot dog when I sent you food; you had a hot dog. I think that throw – you had to pass gas or something.”

Carmen explained that when Smith lifted his leg up in his attempt to fire a strike, he likely emitted flatulence because of the hot dog he ate at Yankee Stadium. Qerim and analyst Ryan Smith were consumed by laughter before they collected themselves and presented Carmen with an additional query.

“Hey Carmen, aren’t you happy you didn’t go now because that would have been embarrassing?,” Qerim asked. “You’d have to claim him after that.”

“I would’ve left him right there,” Carmen replied. “I would’ve disappeared [and] I would’ve went home. He wouldn’t even got back to wherever he was eating a hot dog.”

Smith was aghast to see what Qerim and the rest of the show’s production staff had pulled off in getting his sister to come live on the air. As a result, he vowed vengeance for the program that they had successfully executed. Nonetheless, Carmen reflected on what had happened and what she would have done had she known Smith would bounce the pitch in front of the crowd.

“Steve, the day before you were here, I would’ve had the headlights on the car,” Carmen explained. “We would’ve been throwing in the street at nighttime if I knew you were going to throw like that. Come on; you’re better than that.”