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ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Now a Presidential Debate Analyst! Shocking Details Inside!

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By: Mike

Stephen A. Smith Becomes Presidential Debate Analyst in Midst of ESPN Contract Negotiations
© Red94 – ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Now a Presidential Debate Analyst! Shocking Details Inside!

1. It’s no secret that Stephen A. Smith is a workaholic.

His commitments include hosting First Take every weekday, featuring on ESPN’s NBA Countdown, maintaining a podcast, authoring books, and essentially providing round-the-clock commentary.

So you’d think that after his ESPN coverage of the NBA draft on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, Stephen A. might opt for a restful evening at home.

But that wasn’t the case.

Smith chose to forgo a quiet night in favor of serving as a panelist for the presidential debate.

Yes, after hosting First Take in the morning and covering the NBA draft’s second round in the afternoon, Smith appeared on a channel called NewsNation to provide analysis on the Biden vs. Trump debate.

I may be reading too much into this, but my initial reaction to seeing this on Twitter was “typical contract negotiation tactics.”

Smith is presently negotiating a new contract with ESPN. According to Puck’s John Ourand, ESPN offered Smith $18 million per year for a five-year contract, but Smith is reportedly holding out for $25 million annually.

James Andrew Miller, in a recent SI Media With Jimmy Traina discussion, suggested that Smith’s return to ESPN is far from certain. He surmised that his agents could conceivably assemble various deals to secure Smith’s $25 million per year demand.

This is where cable news factors in. Smith has been making appearances on cable news for quite some time. But participating in a panel following a presidential debate takes things to a new level. Although ESPN management has become more flexible about its talent pursuing opportunities outside ESPN, I’m guessing they were not exactly thrilled to see Smith’s gig on Thursday night.

As for Smith’s appearance on NewsNation, I couldn’t bring myself to watch any clips, but Twitter users certainly had their opinions.

2. A few weeks back, I penned a piece about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell undermining the NFL Network during an antitrust trial testimony. The lawsuit was filed by a group of NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers who accused the league of overcharging for the package and limiting access to Sunday Ticket.

When I initially wrote the piece, I didn’t anticipate the NFL losing the case. But I was mistaken. My SI colleague Andrew Brandt has written a column explaining the ruling and what happens next.

For those Sunday Ticket subscribers like me who just want our refund, this Pro Football Talk column is a must-read.

3. How about Travis Kelce as a referee post-retirement? I’m all for it.

4. I can’t deny that I’m fascinated by the story of 72-year-old Bill Belichick dating a 24-year-old. The news has resulted in some truly remarkable lines, like this one:

5. Here’s my take. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m mellowing with age or if I’m simply missing the point, but I fail to understand the fury aimed at the Lakers and LeBron James after Los Angeles drafted Bronny. LeBron is indisputably one of the greatest players of all time. He brought a championship home for the Lakers (even though I personally feel it doesn’t count because it was won during the COVID-19 bubble season, but that’s a discussion for another time). He remains one of the NBA’s top players. If he wants to play with his son, who perhaps shouldn’t have been drafted in the second round and may not belong in the NBA, is it really such a terrible thing? Does it warrant such hostility? Personally, I find it rather cool that a father and son get to play together in the NBA. Maybe I’m off base here, but that’s my viewpoint.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina was released this week, featuring a discussion with Pablo Torre, the host of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast for Meadowlark Media.

Torre discusses the origin of his unique podcast, how he selects his topics, his podcast’s objective, what it’s like to work for Dan Le Batard, and how he managed to remain with ESPN part-time while working full-time for another company.

Torre also shares his most memorable podcast episode, responds to various podcast ideas pitched by Jimmy, and they both reminisce about their time working at Sports Illustrated together.

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