Following the departure of Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, Skip Bayless, and FS1 had trouble finding a new partner to sit alongside the personality. They eventually hired a bunch of people to take Sharpe’s place.
Fox Sports went with ESPN’s model of having a rotating round table of people that includes Richard Sherman, Keyshawn Johnson, Michael Irvin, Lil Wayne, and Rachel Nichols.
Despite all that talent, Undisputed still remains behind in ratings to First Take.
Now that he’s no longer at FS1, Bayless will never beat him in TV ratings again, according to Sharpe.
Sharpe delivered that scathing message this weekend.
“Y’all not going to be better than me and Stephen A. That’s not going to happen. I promise you, that is not going to happen. Ever. EVER,” Sharpe said on Stephen A’s self-titled podcast this weekend.
“Now, if Stephen A. says, ‘Shannon, I want to go in a different direction,’ you all are still not (going to beat us). Because Stephen A. is that dude. If Stephen A. ever decides to leave and turn the reins over to me, you all know I’m that dude. I’m him.”
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The 71-year-old Bayless, who joined ESPN on a full-time basis in 2004, was a main fixture on First Take from 2007 until his departure from Fox in 2016. Undisputed launched in 2016 and enjoyed success, but it still remained behind First Take in the ratings.
Now that Sharpe is on there, those ratings have become even more distant between them.
Sharpe had already stated that after Bayless’ live-TV insults during an episode where Skip disrespected his career in support of Tom Brady, the “Undisputed” partnership was broken.
