Stephen A. Smith, the executive producer and featured commentator on First Take and analyst on NBA Countdown, is reportedly in the early stages of contract negotiations with ESPN, according to a recent report by John Ourand of Puck News. Over the last several years at the network, Smith has helped grow the properties with which he has been involved and has stated that he feels he deserves to be the highest-paid talent at ESPN. Burke Magnus, the president of content at ESPN, was asked about the situation surrounding Smith as the end of his contract approaches on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast.
Magnus explained that Smith is a “bonafide superstar” who has been able to cut through in the current media environment, drawing considerable interest from the audience pertaining to everything he does. Within his explanation, Magnus also said that nobody works harder than Smith and will do anything asked of him by ESPN, including being on different shows and taking part in sales meetings with clientele. Moreover, First Take has one more month to go to reach 24 consecutive months of month-over-month, year-over-year audience growth, something Magnus said that does not happen in the world today.
“Yes, it’s a vehicle for him, of course, but the ensemble that he has had a large part in assembling on First Take, whether it’s [Christopher] ‘Mad Dog’ Russo, Shannon Sharpe, Molly [Qerim] hosting, the guests that he brings in seasonally to talk about their respective sports, it’s just really compelling television for two hours a day, five days a week,” Magnus said. “The way we look at him is he’s a great personality, he works really hard, he’s got a hit show and he fills a lot of hours.”
On the contrary, Magnus acknowledged that live game and live event programming carries more significance than any studio show on the air. That being said, he stated that he feels as good about the current programming lineup from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. than he has ever felt and that Smith is a key component within those results.
Deitsch then asked Magnus how the network judges someone like Smith who does not commentate on live sports games but is very important to studio and shoulder programming on the networks. Magnus mentioned the lead Monday Night Football broadcasting team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and how the duo is worth the money ESPN is paying them.
“When things like Damar Hamlin happened, to have Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and Lisa Salters and the team around our NFL games there is, it’s hard to put a value on that, again, given the investment that we have in the NFL overall,” Magnus said. “So relative to what networks pay for NFL game content, that’s what kind of drove the high end of the analyst and play-by-play market to where it is today, and I think that makes sense.”
While Magnus feels good about where the NFL content is at the moment, he understands that there is a significant fiscal investment involved. The group that covers the league brings peace of mind as ESPN continues to broadcast live NFL games over a 10-year deal worth a reported $2.7 billion annually. Magnus explained that the studio shows, while important as ESPN is involved in the content business on a 24/7, 365-day basis, are ultimately weighed on how much value they provide for next-game content.
“It’s different, and there’s a different calculus there for sure,” said Magnus who is involved in the negotiations with Smith’s representation, “but again, to compliment Stephen A. because I’m sincere when I say this – he’s the best right now. And so, we’re balancing the difference between game and studio, but we’re also talking about the guy who’s at the absolute top of the heap.”
Within Ourand’s reporting, he has stated that Smith was initially offered an $18 million per year deal from ESPN. In response, Smith’s representation pointed out the deal ESPN agreed to with Pat McAfee to license episodes of The Pat McAfee Show and the nine-year content agreement between ESPN and Omaha Productions, ensuring the continuation of Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli.
“It wasn’t until whenever that was yesterday or last night that a number was attached to it, but by the way, it doesn’t exactly take a super-sleuth to figure out what being the highest-paid talent at ESPN; what number would sort of put you in that realm, so I think John’s article was nothing more than that,” Magnus said. “Stephen’s never said anything other than he feels like he should be at that level, so that’s where we are in terms of the reporting on it.”
Magnus conveyed optimism that ESPN and Smith would be able to come to terms on a new contract, acknowledging that it is a mutually beneficial relationship. At the moment, both sides are negotiating in what he referred to as a “time-honored tradition” of negotiating that comes up in buying rights or being in the talent licensing business. ESPN does not currently have a replacement plan should Smith leave the network, but First Take would continue either way. Magnus referenced the independent creator ecosystem within YouTube and the modern media environment that provides the network access to talent across platforms.
“It’s funny, we still call a lot of these things podcasts even though they’re just as much about video as they are about audio and they’re all on YouTube, right, but there is a wealth of talented people out there who, if given the chance, I think could also become superstars very easily on our platform, and the format of First Take I think lends to that,” Magnus said. “It’s already an ensemble situation in many ways, so I don’t worry about that at all.”
