Stephen A. Smith is now ESPN’s $100 million man.
The First Take host, NBA analyst, podcaster and frequent talk show guest has agreed to a five-year deal that will pay an average of $20 million annually, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. He has been making a reported $12 million annually amid months of speculation about his next contract.
Previously The Wall Street Journal reported Smith rejected an $18 million-a-year offer from ESPN. Multiple outlets have since reported he was seeking $25 million annually from the network as part of his next deal.
Although Smith will stay on at First Take, his daily daytime show on ESPN, the tireless worker will not be seen quite so extensively on the network, one source told The Athletic. He will no longer be a centerpiece of NBA pregame shows, but might begin making some Monday Night Football appearances.
This should allow him to do more political commentary away from the network, sources told Marchand.
The ESPN host has been flirting a presidential run after a national survey revealed last month he would receive more support than several high-profile Democrat hopefuls in the 2028 election. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com shortly after the survey was released, Smith left the door open for a potential run in three years’ time if the American people call for it. He did, however, stress that he has no personal desire to run.
The First Take host, NBA analyst, podcaster and frequent talk show guest has agreed to a five-year deal that will pay him that nine-figure sum, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand
And during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, he discussed the idea of a presidential bid once again.
When asked by Fallon why he has emerged as a candidate for the Democrats, Smith answered: ‘Folks are nuts, number one. Number two, the Democratic party… they lost. They had a bad few months, we all know this.
‘And even though there’s a lot of qualified Democrats all over the country from a local perspective, governors, mayors, stuff like that… there’s no real national voice. And to moi… they’ve come to me.’
Smith’s new agreement is a major reason to think he won’t run for re-election. As Marchand remarked on X, Smith would need to surrender a significant amount of salary if he wanted to run for office in the middle of the deal.
ESPN may not have been the only suitor for Smith, who has recently dipped his toe into political infotainment with appearances on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show and Bill Maher’s ‘Club Random.’ The New York native could have created his own platform, with the help of his agency, WME, according to one sports media insider.
‘I think what ESPN is up against is the possibility that WME could go out and create an architecture where Stephen A. has a podcast, a deal with this, a deal with that, whatever, and at the end of the day, it’s $20 million a year,’ James Andrew Miller told SI Media’s Jimmy Traina in June.
‘Smith currently has a podcast partnership with iHeartMedia, and recently produced a documentary for ESPN about the history of sports punditry.
‘I do believe there are enough possibilities … that Stephen A. can get outside of ESPN and even outside an exclusive deal with another network that could make him very happy and very rich,’ Miller added.
As Smith told Front Office Sports in September, he hopes to follow in his idol Howard Cosell’s footsteps by lending his voice to ESPN’s football coverage.
‘I don’t want to insult the legacy of the great Howard Cosell, who’s somebody that I idolized. But that’s what I want to do,’ Smith told Front Office Sports.
As Marchand remarked on X, Smith would need to surrender a significant amount of salary if he wanted to run for office in the middle of the deal, making a White House campaign unlikely
Stephen A. Smith has flirted with running for president again on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show
But unlike Cosell, who did play by play for ABC in addition to other various roles from 1953 until 1985, Smith doesn’t want to be in the booth.
‘When I think about the NFL, I’m not talking about being in the booth with [ESPN Monday Night Football announcers] Troy Aikman and Joe Buck,’ Smith said. ‘You don’t mess with that chemistry; you leave that alone. But I’m unapologetic about what I want.
‘I would love to be a part of Monday Night Football. I would love to work with [Monday Night Countdown’s new cast including] Jason Kelce and Scott Van Pelt and Ryan Clark and my man Marcus Spears. I mean, two of those guys are on First Take every week.’
Obviously the decision on what to do with Smith is up to ESPN and chairman Jimmy Pitaro.
‘Of course, I believe that I can do it,’ Smith told Front Office Sports. ‘When you think about Howard Cosell and what he meant to the business, do I believe I have the potential to mean nearly as much? Yes, I do. So that’s my opinion. It doesn’t mean that opinion is shared by others. We’ll find out …’
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