Back in June, Howard Stern welcomed Chris Russo to his SiriusXM show. During the interview, the King of All Media got Mad Dog to reveal what his arrangement is with ESPN to make appearances on First Take each week.
Russo told Stern that he gets $10,000 per appearance. This week, he revealed to Jimmy Traina that ESPN was not happy he made the number public.
“I’ll probably get my wrist slapped again,” Russo said on the SI Media Podcast. “Somebody from ESPN sent a text to my agent with two words: ‘Not helpful.’ I never said that before. That will get me in trouble, too, but what the hell? It’s your show, nobody listens.”
In defense of Chris Russo, he and Stern have known each other for a long time. He made a startegic decision about what kind of headlines he was willing to make on the show.
“If you go on with Howard, he puts you on for an hour and 15 minutes, you gotta give him something. I’m not gonna go break down my sex life or anything like that. I gotta give him something that’s meaty, and that is meaty. He loves that stuff. That’s why I did it.”
The current arrangement between Russo and ESPN calls for 40 appearances on First Take. Will there be more appearances after episode 40? He says those discussions have not yet taken place.
Despite regularly ending up in heated arguments with athletes and other younger debators, Chris Russo did not miss a beat when Traina asked if he would want to do more with ESPN in the future.
“Why would I not? I love Stephen A. Outside of the commute, which is difficult, what’s there not to like?”
