What's Next For Skip Bayless After FS1?
Skip Bayless left ESPN for FS1 in 2016 as the latter revamped its daily lineup in an effort to challenge ESPN for sports debate supremacy.
FS1 was never going to dethrone ESPN, which benefits from a 40-year head-start and the airing of premiere live sporting events in the evening. Still, Bayless helped put FS1 on the map by leading "Undisputed" to around 170,000 viewers at its peak in 2021.
But "Undisputed" has since struggled to maintain viewers. Over the past year, the show dipped to averages of around 40,000 viewers. The departure of Shannon Sharpe last summer stung. The new cast of Bayless, Keyshawn Johnson, Michael Irvin, Paul Pierce, and Richard Sherman never cut through.
Further, FS1 created the show "Undisputed" to compete head-to-head with ESPN's "First Take" with Stephen A. Smith. "First Take" has recorded year-over-year growth for 22 consecutive months, a seemingly impossible feat in 2024.
There was an appetite for an alternative to "First Take" in 2016 as the show stumbled due to a rocky relationship between co-hosts Smith and Max Kellerman. That appetite has greatly diminished since Stephen A. started to debate a rotation of commentators and transcended into one of the few mainstream personalities in sports media today.
Thusly, Bayless will leave FS1 later this summer. The New York Post first reported the news on Monday. His future is uncertain. On the surface, a natural landing spot does not exist.
Sports journalist and television personality, Skip Bayless. (Photo by Christopher Capozziello/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
It's not that Bayless is without value. But he is a big, polarizing, and eccentric personality who makes around $8 million a year at FS1. There are not many networks signing up for that mixture.
A return to ESPN would be challenging. Stephen A. says publicly he does not want a full-time debate partner. The ratings support his preference.
Plus, ESPN recently signed multi-year deals with Shannon Sharpe and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, filing out the Monday-Wednesday rotation. (Sharpe appears on Mondays and Thursdays; Russo appears on Wednesdays).
As an admitted workaholic and control freak, Bayless surely wouldn't settle for one day a week on "First Take," a show created for him in 2007. And that's if Smith would even want Bayless to return in some form, though it was Bayless who threw Smith a lifeline in 2012 when no one else would put him on television.
"I would not be sitting here today if it weren't for Skip Bayless," Smith admitted on his podcast last summer.
Bayless could, like so many, start a self-owned podcast on YouTube or X (like Jim Rome). And he may do that. However, Bayless is not a natural solo host. He hosts a weekly podcast now, where he essentially stares at his notes on camera. He's not Colin Cowherd.
Bayless is best suited in a debate format with a foe – and as he learned when Sharpe left FS1, he needs a foe of significance. Finding and paying for a full-time star debate partner would be incredibly difficult without the backing of a major organization.
Peacock, FanDuel TV, and DraftKings Network could in theory show interest in him. Specifically, Peacock has an opening at noon ET, following the "Dan Patrick Show." If so, Bayless would have to settle for a substantial payout.
In any event, Bayless must innovate. He rose to national prominence as the lead provocateur on the topic of LeBron James. He rode that wave to two eight-figure contracts. But the schtick has grown tiresome. All shticks do eventually. Stephen A's could be next.
Moreover, LeBron is not the lighting rod he once was. Debating LeBron vs. Jordan on Mondays during the football season is desperate and a turnoff to viewers.
LeBron also turns 40 in December. He has probably two to three years left in the NBA. What happens to Bayless then?
It's time for a new home and material.