It’s been more than five years since Michael Smith left ESPN following a 15-year run with the Worldwide Leader.
Now it appears that Smith might be making his way back to Bristol, with Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy reporting that the former SportsCenter host has had “exploratory talks” with ESPN regarding a potential return.
According to McCarthy, should Smith reunite with his former employer, it would likely be in a role connected to SportsCenter/the company’s news division.
News of Smith’s potential return to ESPN airwaves comes a half-decade removed from his original departure from the company in 2019. After co-hosting SportsCenter — then dubbed SC6 or The Six — alongside Jemele Hill from Feb. 2017-March 2018, ESPN pulled the plug on the personality-focused version of the show with Hill taking a buyout to leave ESPN in August 2018.
Two months later, Smith followed suit, later co-founding a multimedia company called Inflection Point Entertainment before joining NBC Sports to co-host Peacock’s Brother From Another alongside Michael Holley before the show’s run ended last year. The 45-year-old New Orleans native has also served as a reporter for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts since the 2022 NFL season.
The timing of Smith’s potential return to ESPN is especially notable, as it comes less than a year after the departure of former executive Norby Williamson, who reportedly wasn’t a fan of the personality-focused SC6. In the years since, Hill has openly discussed her dealings with Williamson, while Smith told Front Office Sports in 2023 that he felt “muted” by the Disney-owned company by the end of his tenure.
“Somebody told me a long time ago everything ends badly; otherwise, it wouldn’t end,” Smith told FOS. “Was it fair? No. I’m just gonna be binary about it. But life ain’t fair. I don’t look at it that way anymore, I appreciate the 15 years I had there.”
Should a reunion between Smith and ESPN come to fruition, it will certainly be interesting to see how it takes shape, especially considering the host/reporter’s versatility. McCarthy also noted in his report that Around the Horn — which Smith was previously featured on — is coming to an end later this year, creating a void in ESPN’s programming schedule that he could potentially help fill.
