ESPN Firmly Shuts Down The Possibility Of A Skip Bayless Reunion On ‘First Take’

Getty Image

There’s no telling what the future holds for Skip Bayless as he prepares to leave FS1 as Undisputed continues to grapple with some absolutely abysmal ratings, but it does not sound like it will involve ESPN based on what the network had to say about a potential reunion.

Skip Bayless is one of the many talking heads in the sports media world who can credit ESPN for helping them make the leap from regional pundit to a household name thanks to the national platform The Worldwide Leader offers.

It’s obviously worth noting a major part of the reason Bayless initially attracted the network’s attention was the impressive résumé he compiled as an award-winning columnist for the likes of The Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune, but he ascended to another tier entirely when he was tapped to co-host what eventually became First Take in 2007.

Bayless was joined by Stephen A. Smith in 2012, and that dynamic duo spent four years treating viewers to some incredibly entertaining television before the former decided to make the leap to FS1 in 2016 to co-host Undisputed alongside Shannon Sharpe.

Sharpe decided to leave the program behind last summer, and it was never able to recover from a departure that marked the start of a precipitous ratings decline that bottomed out earlier this year when Undisputed began averaging less than 50,000 viewers per episode (First Take was averaging about ten times that number around the same time).

On Monday, The New York Post published the seemingly inevitable report concerning FS1’s decision to part ways with Bayless after eight years, as the final episode of Undisputed featuring the 72-year-old will air later this summer.

At this point, it’s pretty clear Bayless has lost his fastball, and no one would blame him for entering into a well-earned retirement. With that said, there were some people who thought there was a chance he could end up linking back up with ESPN and Stephen A.

However, it does not sound like that’s going to be the case based on what a spokesperson for ESPN had to say to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports when asked about that possibility.

I guess that settles that.