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Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith proved to be a powerhouse tandem for ESPN before Bayless left the network to join FOX Sports in 2016. And in a recent podcast interview, Bayless revealed he nearly returned to the Worldwide Leader to rejoin his longtime partner.
While appearing on Pardon My Take, Bayless was asked about the possibility of he and Smith working together on the same show again. He then shared that that almost came to fruition a few years ago before details in his contract made it impossible for the reunion to take place.
“We tried in 2020, to his credit,” Bayless revealed. “My deal was up after my first four years. So I’ve been there from 2016 to 2020. He did his darndest, and I did my damnedest to reunite with him. And (ESPN) did make an offer. I was unaware I had a matching clause somewhere at the very bottom in very fine print of my contract that was standard to all contracts. I was told I had one at ESPN that I was not aware of.
“And not only did Fox match, they did sweeten the pot. Thank you to Lachlan Murdoch for that. So they tried to make it happier for me to stay. But I tried everything in my power to rejoin him because I missed him dearly. No disrespect to Shannon, I’d done four years with Shannon, and I wanted to go back with Stephen A.”
Skip Bayless continued by noting that the pair made additional efforts to link up after it became clear that a return to ESPN away from FOX Sports wasn’t going to be in the cards.
“ESPN came up with the second idea of a hybrid show whereby I would stay on Undisputed, he would stay on First Take, but every afternoon, we would reunite for 30 or 45 minutes to do ESPN+ together, a digital show. We tried and tried to make it happen and there are just too many egos involved on both sides … so that never got off the ground.”
When Pardon My Take co-host PFT Commenter shared that he dreams of Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless joining forces once again, the former FS1 and ESPN host didn’t close the book on it happening somewhere down the line.
“You never know,” Bayless stated.
