As ESPN focuses more on Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith focuses more on his independent ventures, Bill Simmons is worried about his former colleague.
It wasn’t long ago that you would turn on ESPN and expect to see Stephen A. Smith in some capacity. But now ESPN is using Pat McAfee to test the limits of overexposure, while Smith does First Take for the Worldwide Leader, and that’s about it. Sure, he makes the occasional cameo on SportsCenter or Monday Night Countdown.
But as far as Smith’s dream of being Howard Cosell for ESPN, that appears dead. His dream of exceeding the limits ESPN offers, however, lives on, which is why Smith still works fervently to grow his own brand.
Bill Simmons says it’s interesting seeing how ESPN treats Pat McAfee compared to Stephen A. Smith these days. You see McAfee cross-promoting on almost every show across the network as a massive PR push. On the other hand, it feels like Stephen A. Smith just does First Take and… pic.twitter.com/FtRHm5RYaA
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“There’s new people in charge of this stuff, who it’s fair to say are pro-McAfee,” Simmons said to The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis of ESPN’s current leadership. “And Stephen A., who got this new deal and is on two other shows that aren’t on ESPN, and it seems like they’ve come to an, ‘Okay, you’re just gonna do First Take, maybe pop on a couple other things every once in a while.’ And that’s gonna be his ESPN relationship. But that was not the case two years ago.”
“I don’t know if you should be on three shows a day,” Simmons questioned. “I don’t think that’s sustainable. It’s just a lot of work. I’m somebody who does shows. It’s hard to research them and follow everything, and to just do three a day every day, I worry about him. I don’t know if that’s ultimately going to be efficient for him, but I guess we’ll see.”
Smith has two daily shows, not three. He hosts First Take every morning for ESPN, and his daily show for SiriusXM on Mad Dog Sports Radio every afternoon. He also hosts a weekly political show for SiriusXM and pops on his own YouTube channel for occasional content. It might be equivalent to doing three daily shows in terms of the amount of content he creates, but he’s only scheduled for two shows each day.
But Bill Simmons’ point is still valid. Stephen A. Smith has reached a point in his career where he landed the massive $100 million contract from ESPN and is no longer required to participate in the carwash. But instead of taking a step back and enjoying a less demanding schedule, Smith is working more than ever.
Maybe Smith regrets not starting his digital brand sooner. He’s clearly focused on building up his own media company. And it feels like he’s doing so many shows and creating so much content under his own brand because he’s trying to catch up to people like Simmons, McAfee, and Dan Le Batard, who launched their digital platforms years before Smith did.