While the last year has witnessed the downfall of Undisputed, Marcellus Wiley pinpointed one date that ended Skip Bayless’ FS1 tenure.
Earlier this week, Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post reported Bayless will depart FS1 and Undisputed later this summer after eight years with the network. The move comes one year after FS1 aligned with Bayless and allowed Shannon Sharpe to become a free agent. In the following months, FS1 watched Bayless falter in his attempt at revamping Undisputed, while Sharpe’s media career has flourished through his digital platform and contributions to ESPN’s First Take.
Bayless’s exit from FS1 seems like a culmination of the last 12 months. Beginning with the decision to move on from Sharpe and continuing with the show becoming a ratings disaster. But according to former FS1 personality Marcellus Wiley, there’s one specific date that forced FS1 to realize it’s time to move on from the 72-year-old Bayless.
“Let’s go back to April 25th, the day that ended his career,” Wiley said on YouTube channel. “Because First Take was averaging around 500,000 viewers. And Undisputed that day got 45,000. I’ll say it again, 500,000 to 45,000. What’s so bad about that day? Why is that day sticking out? April 25th? Because that was the first day of the NFL Draft and the Lakers had a playoff game.”
“If you’re an executive at Fox,” Wiley continued, “April 25th told Charlie Dixon and others, but Charlie Dixon, who’s boys with Skip, ‘We’re going into another NFL season, this is the NFL Draft, day one, leadoff show on our network, our flagship show gets 45,000 viewers?’ For the NFL Draft? Which is a forecast of what the season is going to look like. And then on top of that, your best work, your best troll job, the thing you hang your hat on is LeBron James. Well, the Lakers are in the playoffs, and nobody’s checking or what you got to say? There it is. That was the day.”
According to Wiley, regardless of how FS1 and Bayless ultimately attempt to spin this parting of ways, this is the day the network decided to move on from Bayless.
“This decision was not mutual,” Wiley said. “Do not let them fool you. I know all the reports because people are going to say it different ways. They’re gonna say he left, they’re gonna say he was fired. It ain’t about that. Just know it wasn’t mutual. You want to know why? Because someone has to initiate that call. And someone called that meeting to discuss these ratings, this relationship, that revenue you’re not producing, and ultimately your return or not. So, somebody called that meeting, and let’s just say, it ain’t Skip.”
Bayless is in the final year of the $32 million contract he signed with FS1 in early 2021. And considering Undisputed has morphed into a ratings debacle without Sharpe, FS1 would be foolish to make a similar commitment to Bayless.
