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Industry Source Predicts Reunion For Stephen A. Smith & Skip Bayless on YouTube

Jordan Bondurant

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2 months ago

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Could Stephen A. Smith reunite with former First Take debate partner Skip Bayless? An industry source thinks it’ll happen.

Stephen A. has talked openly in interviews promoting his book Straight Shooter about the next chapter of his career.

In an interview with Pat McAfee recently, Smith said he admired how the former Colts punter has blossomed into a media superstar and remained completely independent. He was inspired to branch out and do some things on his own, like his K[no]w Mercy podcast.

“I love doing First Take. I can do it for a few more years I guess,” Smith said in an interview this week on the Barstool Sports podcast Pardon My Take. “And I never want to leave sports. I just don’t want to be limited to it.”

Smith, 55, and Bayless, 71, will both be free agents in 2025 according to Front Office Sports. The industry source wondered if the earning potential would be enough of an incentive to join forces again and launch an independent project.

But Stephen A. said that’s not in the cards for him.

“At this stage and point in my life, I’m happier without him,” he said. “I’m not going back. That’s not what I want anymore, but it has nothing to do with a debate show. It’s that I have other aspirations.”

Stephen A. hopes to be Jimmy Kimmel’s successor on ABC’s late-night talk show, but he also wants to get more involved with his own production company. But he said on PMT that he’d gladly get back together with Skip for more of a one-off thing.

“If you’re talking about one final day with Skip Bayless I’d welcome that any day of the week just to pay homage to what he’s done for me,” Smith said. “And to beat him again.”

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Adam Silver Addresses Disney Rumors at NBA Board of Governors Meeting

“I have no intention of going anywhere.”
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9 mins ago

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March 30, 2023

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Adam Silver wants NBA team governors to know that he wants to keep working for them. The league commissioner addressed rumors that he is on a short list of potential successors for Bob Iger when he steps down from the CEO role at The Walt Disney Company in 2024.

Silver, whose contract with the NBA happens to expire in 2024, was asked directly if he had spoken with Iger or anyone else at Disney.

“I love my job at the NBA,” he reportedly said at a Board of Governors meeting. “I have no intention of going anywhere.”

The inclusion of Silver’s name on Iger’s list makes a lot of sense. The NBA and Disney have had a great relationship predating Silver taking over the commissioner’s role. ABC and ESPN are expected to renew their TV deal with the league this summer.

The two sides also partnered on a live entertainment complex at Disney Springs on Walt Disney World property in Florida called The NBA Experience. It closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At 60 years old, Adam Silver is likely in no hurry to retire. When his contract with the NBA expires, it will be up to him whether he wants to remain the commissioner of the league or not.

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NFL Network Cuts Continue With Willie McGinest

“McGinest is currently in the middle of a lawsuit resulting from an incident in a LA-area restaurant in December.”
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2 hours ago

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March 30, 2023

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Willie McGinest is the latest victim of cost reduction layoffs at NFL Media. The NFL Network analyst is out according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.

McGinest is currently in the middle of a lawsuit resulting from an incident in an LA-area restaurant in December. He is being sued and faces up to eight years in prison for allegedly attacking a fellow customer.

Since news of the investigation became public, NFL Network has kept Willie McGinest off the air.

McCarthy reached out to McGinest and NFL Network. Neither offered a comment at this time.

NFL Media has been busy this week as the company looks to reduce its expenses. Willie McGinest joins Jim Trotter and Rachel Bonnetta on the list of on-air talents that have lost their jobs at NFL Network.

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Holly Rowe Signs Long-Term Extension With ESPN

“I feel like I am living my best life and I am so grateful to ESPN for letting me keep doing this.”
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6 hours ago

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March 30, 2023

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ESPN reporter Holly Rowe has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the company.

Rowe works as a sideline reporter for ESPN/ABC’s coverage of college football — including the College Football Playoffs, the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and the Women’s College World Series, among other high-profile assignments.

“I feel like I am living my best life and I am so grateful to ESPN for letting me keep doing this,” Rowe told The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch.

Earlier this year, Rowe was named the 2023 Curt Gowdy Media Award winner from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for her electronic media work.

Rowe joined ESPN in 1998, and signed her last contract extension with the network in 2018 shortly before she announced she had undergone her final chemotherapy treatment in August of that year after a melanoma diagnosis in 2016.

According to Deitsch, Rowe’s contract was set to expire next month.

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