{"id":867367,"date":"2026-10-01T18:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/867367\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T18:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:40:09","slug":"bill-simmons-worried-about-stephen-a-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/867367\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Simmons \u2018worried\u2019 about Stephen A. Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long ago that you would turn on ESPN and expect to see Stephen A. Smith<\/a> 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\u2019s about it. Sure, he makes the occasional cameo on SportsCenter or Monday Night Countdown.<\/p>\n

But as far as Smith\u2019s dream of being Howard Cosell<\/a> for ESPN, that appears dead. His dream of exceeding the limits\u00a0<\/a>ESPN offers<\/a>, however, lives on, which is why Smith still works fervently to grow\u00a0his own brand.<\/p>\n

Bill Simmons says it\u2019s 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\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/FtRHm5RYaA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NBA Hoops (@Thechat101) September 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s new people in charge of this stuff, who it\u2019s fair to say are pro-McAfee,\u201d Simmons said to The Ringer\u2019s Bryan Curtis<\/a> of ESPN\u2019s current leadership. \u201cAnd Stephen A., who got this new deal and is on two other shows that aren\u2019t on ESPN, and it seems like they\u2019ve come to an, \u2018Okay, you\u2019re just gonna do First Take, maybe pop on a couple other things every once in a while.\u2019 And that\u2019s gonna be his ESPN relationship. But that was not the case two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if you should be on three shows a day,\u201d Simmons questioned. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s sustainable. It\u2019s just a lot of work. I\u2019m somebody who does shows. It\u2019s hard to research them and follow everything, and to just do three a day every day, I worry about him. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s ultimately going to be efficient for him, but I guess we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s only scheduled for two shows each day.<\/p>\n

But Bill Simmons\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Maybe Smith regrets not starting his digital brand sooner. He\u2019s clearly focused on building up his own media company. And it feels like he\u2019s doing so many shows and creating so much content under his own brand because he\u2019s trying to catch up to people like Simmons, McAfee, and Dan Le Batard, who launched their digital platforms years before Smith did.<\/p>\n

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