In a shocking development in the sports media landscape, Skip Bayless is leaving his role as co-host of “Undisputed” at FS1 after eight years, per Ryan Glasspiegel of The New York Post.
His final show will be later this summer. The show airs at 9:30 a.m. on weekday mornings.
It is the second consecutive summer that one of the major personalities from Undisputed has departed, as Shannon Sharpe left after the NBA Finals last year.
The new version of the program, which featured a rotating group of panelists with Bayless, Keyshawn Johnson, Michael Irvin, Richard Sherman, Rachel Nichols and Paul Pierce, didn't seem to be able to capture the same magic as Bayless and Sharpe debating one-on-one for the previous seven years had.
The show took a few months off in the summer of 2023 after Sharpe’s departure and never managed to find its footing. Upon Undisputed's return, the format seemed clunky and different than what viewers were used to. Instead of featuring a debate moderator – a role formerly filled by Joy Taylor, Jenny Taft and Jen Hale – Bayless would be the person to introduce the topic and then might be the last one to weigh in with an opinion.
It is expected that “Undisputed” will continue without Bayless, but it's difficult to imagine the show continuing the success it has seen in previous years. For better or worse, Bayless' opinions often went viral, being shared across social media. Whether those shares were to agree with Bayless or mock him, the number of impressions, and revenue, he generated were astronomical.
Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, reported in 2021 that Bayless had signed a four-year deal with FS1 worth $32 million.
Skip Bayless at Undisputed despite hoped for Stephen A Smith reunion
ESPN made a full-court press to reunite Skip Bayless with Stephen A. Smith back in 2020.
The duo would have done a daily ESPN+ show together, but after lengthy negotiations, it culminated in FS1 retaining Bayless.
Smith, who makes close to $8 million per year, was a driving force in ESPN’s recruitment of Bayless. The long negotiations went over several months and did not conclude until late fall in 2020, just as sports had come back from the pandemic-induced shutdown.
In August of that year, ESPN reportedly offered Bayless a four-year deal in the $30 million range. The reason for the move was not necessarily to put the “First Take” group back together, but rather to pump up the network’s brand-new subscription platform, ESPN+.
The duo would have appeared on ESPN on a variety of programs in an effort to drive viewers to watch and subscribe to ESPN+.
Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Bayless has made headwaves in his career. His in-your-face personality and hot takes have made him into an extremely polarizing figure, and his criticism of LeBron James and Aaron Rodgers has pissed off several fans. Bayless has transcended being just a member of sports media and he has become a notable figure in pop culture. Regardless of what comes out of Bayless' mouth, it is almost always entertaining.
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