It’s been weeks since news broke of Stephen A Smith agreeing on a new deal with ESPN, but the First Take host continues to insist it’s not finished.
This week, the conversation came up as Smith joined Mad Dog Unleashed alongside Chris Russo, a First Take sparring partner who recently congratulated Smith on-air for the deal. Smith called talks with ESPN “constructive and beneficial” but strongly pumped the brakes on the idea that he is locked into a new deal reportedly worth anywhere between $100-120 million over five years.
“Talks have been constructive and beneficial but we haven’t reached an agreement yet and until that comes, as far as I’m concerned, I’ve got six months or so to go to do the best job I possibly can do,” Smith told Russo, per Deadline, before again refuting that the deal would reach $120 million.
When Andrew Marchand reported that figure earlier this year at The Athletic, Smith messaged Marchand directly to set the record straight.
At that time, Smith also appeared to push back on the deal being done.
But while Smith’s new ESPN contract may not reach the eye-popping $120 million that originally caught everyone’s attention, Smith told Russo that money is not the obstacle in the way of a deal getting done.
“The money does matter, but the money is there. That’s not the issue,” Smith said. “For me personally, there are a lot of other things that I want to do and I want the freedom to do it. We live in a different world and being able to diversify your portfolio and do things outside of that one job that you may have is incredibly important to me. So because that is of importance to me, that’s the kind of thing that we have to work out.”
From the start of negotiations between Smith and ESPN, the face of the network made it clear that the opportunity to pursue projects away from ESPN and Disney was important to him. Smith invested millions into his eponymous podcast, for which he recently struck a separate deal with iHeartMedia for ad sales and distribution. During the 2024 U.S. election, Smith was a frequent face on Fox News, NewsNation, and digital talk shows.
Early reports of Smith’s wide-ranging new contract indicated he would have a first-look agreement with Disney for projects beyond sports, which he could place at ABC, FX, or the company’s growing streaming platforms.
Judging from Smith’s latest comments, the details of that agreement are still being hashed out — and could hold up the deal.
“Hopefully we’ll reach an accord and I’ll be there for years to come and if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t work out,” Smith added.
Throughout this process, Smith has been a savvy PR operator. While maintaining he does not negotiate in public, the ESPN host has conducted a wide-ranging press tour throughout 2024. Wherever he goes, he reminds the host and their audience how big First Take and his podcast are, and how committed a company man he has been to ESPN and Disney.
That may not be negotiating, but it is certainly making a pitch.
Now Smith appears to be doing the same. Whatever aspect of “freedom” or the lack thereof is keeping Smith from signing on the dotted line, he is using the resources at his disposal to remind ESPN who he is and what he wants.
[Deadline via Mad Dog Unleashed on SiriusXM]
