Sports TV News
Sports Media Reacts To Tension Between Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe
“On air spats between the two are not new.”

Published
1 month agoon
By
BSM Staff
The sports media is not the biggest business in the world. Everyone knows what everyone else is up to and there is always an opinion to share.
That was clear Wednesday morning during the opening moments of FS1’s Undisputed. The show began with Shannon Sharpe attempting to address why he was not on Tuesday’s episode of the show. He noted that because of personal experiences, he knew he would not be capable of talking about Damar Hamlin’s collapse during the first quarter of Monday Night Football on a public platform.
As a result, yesterday’s show was a solo act for Sharpe’s partner Skip Bayless. During the early moments of the Tuesday show, Bayless attempted to explain a tweet he sent on Monday night wondering how the NFL could ever finish the game between the Bills and Bengals.
Sharp brought the tweet up on Wednesday and even mentioned that he hoped Bayless would consider taking it down. That is when the tensions started to boil over.
“Time out. Time out. I am not gonna take it down, because I stand by what I tweeted,” Bayless said.
Sharpe threw his pen down on the desk and told Jennifer Hale to just forget what was planned and to get on with the show.
“I mean, I can’t even get through a monologue without you interrupting me,” he told Bayless. “I was just gonna say, Skip, I didn’t want to yesterday get into a situation where Damar Hamlin wasn’t the issue. We should have been talking about him and not get into your tweet. That’s what I was gonna do, but you won’t even let me finish my opening monologue without you interrupting.”
On air spats between the two are not new. Just last month Sharpe accused Bayless of publicly disrespecting him on the show. It is something that many of their sports media colleagues brought up as they reacted to the segment on social media.
Is anyone running FS1? What is going on there? pic.twitter.com/8pG4oCHubr
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 4, 2023
Shannon Sharpe is sick of this man just like all of us. pic.twitter.com/jG2NBCVunP
— JRSportBrief (@JRSportBrief) January 4, 2023
It doesn’t feel like Undisputed is going to go on much longer in its current capacity.
— Carrington Harrison (@cdotharrison) January 4, 2023
The number of tweets sent about this show is not proportionate to the size of its audience. https://t.co/6yepih6DSK
— Mo Egger (@MoEgger) January 4, 2023
Tense situation. Shannon has had it with Skip: ‘I can’t even get through a monologue without you interrupting.’ https://t.co/G3wRuD9Y8h
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) January 4, 2023
This is brutal. Skip Bayless interrupts Shannon Sharpe during his heartfelt explanation about missing yesterday’s show: “I’m not gonna take it down because I stand by what I tweeted. …
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 4, 2023
Nobody here had a problem with that tweet.” Total lack of humanity and contradiction. pic.twitter.com/EVHjQFADt8
If what @RealSkipBayless said that nobody at @FS1 have a problem with his tweet about @HamlinIsland and him standing on what he said then I must just be losing my mind because Skip isnt surprising, @FS1 not having a problem with the tweet speaks volumes. Wow. Just buisness huh.
— Ben Troupe (@BenTroupe84) January 4, 2023
Given how much of the show is manufactured for ratings, who knows if any of this is real or Shannon is trying to fool people.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 4, 2023
But this scene from the opening of Undisputed is *very* tense and I doubt Skip and Shannon will be working together for long.pic.twitter.com/tbyPH8iGov
How does this show get on the air without this being hashed out behind the scenes first, 2 days later? Will no one tell Skip the truth? https://t.co/uI0mcv1aTB
— Chris Kinard (@ChrisKinard) January 4, 2023
Yup. Feature not a flaw
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) January 4, 2023
Skip Bayless is exactly who we thought he was https://t.co/TBgqtmNuaa
— Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) January 4, 2023
It’s weird. Skip’s initial tweet re: Hamlin was typical twitter — stream on consciousness with a qualification at the end. But I think the reaction broke him. Just saw the clip where he melted into a truly bad co-host (not an act) during Shannon’s monologue. https://t.co/0Rc9KcKblT
— Joe Ovies (@joeovies) January 4, 2023
we’re so close to skip getting the jim rome treatment https://t.co/tS69pMvOXH pic.twitter.com/h6RNupTK1n
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) January 4, 2023
Sports TV News
Roger Goodell: ‘Wouldn’t Surprise Me’ To See Thursday Night Football Move to Flex Scheduling
“Not today, but it’ll certainly be something that’s on our horizon.”

Published
7 hours agoon
February 8, 2023By
BSM Staff
In 2023, Monday Night Football will join Sunday Night Football in having the ability to flex NFL games into its window. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday Night Football could someday join that elite club.
During his “State of the League” speech Wednesday, Goodell said Thursday Night Football having the ability to flex matchups “wouldn’t at all surprise me”.
“Not today, but it’ll certainly be something that’s on our horizon,” the NFL Commissioner said.
The 2023 season will be the first year of flex scheduling for Monday Night Football, and Roger Goodell says it wouldn’t surprise him if at some point Thursday games can be flexed, too: “Not today, but it’ll certainly be something that’s on our horizon.”
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 8, 2023
ESPN bargained for the ability to move higher profile games into Monday Night Football during its negotiations with the league for the next television contract that begins this upcoming season.
NBC has long held the ability to shift a select number of games from earlier windows into the Sunday Night Football primetime slot.
Amazon Prime Video just completed the first of an 11-year contract that sees the streaming platform spend nearly $1 billion per year on the Thursday Night Football package.
One of the largest storylines of Amazon’s debut season with the NFL was the near-constant ridicule from play-by-play announcer Al Michaels over the lackluster TNF schedule. Michaels made headlines over several weeks for his candor on the lack of interesting matchups, going as far as to joke that if the schedule didn’t improve he would retire.
Sports TV News
Michael Irvin Removed From NFL Network Super Bowl Coverage
“I came into the lobby and I talked to somebody. I talked to this girl. I don’t know her, and I talked to her for about 45 seconds.”

Published
10 hours agoon
February 8, 2023By
BSM Staff
A complaint from a female to NFL Network has caused the network to remove Michael Irvin from its Super Bowl coverage.
NFL Network did not comment on the nature of the complaint or the allegation of any impropriety by Irvin, simply stating Irvin would not be a participant in coverage of the event from Arizona.
“Michael Irvin will not be a part of NFL Network’s Super Bowl LVII week coverage,” said NFL Media Vice President of Communications Alex Riethmiller in a statement.
Irvin claimed the interaction happened during a brief moment Sunday after having dinner and drinks with former Cowboy defensive back Michael Brooks.
“This all happened in a 45-second conversation in the lobby,” Irvin told The Dallas Morning News. “When I got back after going out … I came into the lobby and I talked to somebody. I talked to this girl. I don’t know her, and I talked to her for about 45 seconds. We shook hands. Then, I left…That’s all I know.”
Irvin, 56, admitted he didn’t recall the conversation between him and the female but called the interaction “just a friendly conversation”. He defended himself by saying “There was definitely nothing physical”.
The report from The Dallas Morning News added that Glendale police officials do not know about any incident regarding Irvin.
A report from Front Office Sports claims ESPN executives are “poised to pull the plug” on Irvin’s scheduled appearance on First Take from Radio Row Friday.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been with NFL Network since 2009, and in August of last year signed an extension to remain with the cable channel.
Sports TV News
Pro Bowl Lowest Rated Since 2006
While the numbers decreased, the Pro Bowl was still the second-highest rated All-Star Game for the major professional sports leagues.

Published
13 hours agoon
February 8, 2023By
BSM Staff
The NFL completely revamped its Pro Bowl format for the 2022 season, and the changes did not garner more viewers.
An average of 6.28 million viewers tuned into the event across ABC, ESPN, and DisneyXD Sunday for the first 7-on-7 event. That number is a decrease of 6% compared to last year and is the lowest-rated Pro Bowl since the 2006 event saw just 5.96 million viewers. That figure excludes the 2021 Pro Bowl, which was a “virtual” event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the numbers decreased, the Pro Bowl was still the second-highest-rated All-Star Game for the major professional sports leagues, with the MLB All-Star Game seeing an average viewership of 7.51 million. The 6.28 million who watched the Pro Bowl is a virtual tie with last season’s NBA All-Star Game.
The Pro Bowl Skills Challenge — now produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions — did see a large increase in viewership compared to last year. More than 1 million viewers tuned into the Thursday night primetime event, which is the second-best figure on record. That audience is a 23% increase compared to last year’s event.