According to a report yesterday from Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post, Skip Bayless is leaving FS1 and his role on Undisputed. Bayless has been with the network for eight years and will host his final show sometime later this summer. This morning, the show was a topic of The Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C.
The hosts went back and forth with various takes about the show and why it ended. The started by giving the headlines of the story, “Hot take artist Skip Bayless is leaving Undisputed in a bombshell at the end of the summer, his final show will happen on FS1.”
“LeBron outlasted him!” you hear one of the hosts say.
In trying to explain how it all went down, it was explained, “The ratings tanked once they lost [Shannon] Sharpe. Now, they were losing to First Take in the battle of the first take shows. Bayless left 8 years ago for FOX Sports 1 to start Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe and had a couple of tiffs with Sharpe. Sharpe had it and eventually he was out. He is now on First Take at least a couple of days per week with Stephen A. Smith and Undisputed essentially died.”
The hosts discussed who in this situation could take victory laps and ultimately it was decided both Sharpe and Stehpen A. Smith should feel like winners, especially given the fact that Smith has reportedly already turned down over three times what Bayless was getting paid as he negotiates a potential extension with ESPN.
“If you start a TV show and you leave a successful show and start another one, and you get eight years, it’s pretty good, but he’s going out with a whimper,” it was said. “When he lost Shannon Sharpe, he tried to build it up with Richard Sherman, Michael Irvin and Keyshawn Johnson and I just don’t think it ever took off.”
The hosts discussed Bayless being 72 years old and wondering how much longer he might want to do the job and where he might end up landing once his time with FS1 comes to an end.
One of the hosts summed up the conversation saying, “He is 72 years old. Still just grinding it hot, hot-taking it up every day. I guess if you’re getting paid $8 million a year, you are going to keep doing it until they tell you not to do it anymore.”
“He strikes me as a guy who is going to be talking into [a microphone] and then his heart is just going to give out,” said another. “He is going to be doing his bit until the day he dies. He seems like he is desperate for attention, that’s just my opinion.”
