After his reported $12 million annual salary was topped by major acquisitions like Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith wants to be ESPN’s highest-paid talent again.
Smith made the comments during an interview on OutKick The Show. He was asked outright by host Clay Travis whether it was important to him to be the highest-paid personality at the company and didn’t hesitate to make his thoughts on the matter known.
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“Hell yes, that’s absolutely true,” Smith said. “I’ve mastered my own business in the world of sports television… April 1 will mark 12 consecutive years I’ve been number one. Not only have I been number one every year, I’ve been number one every week and every month of every year for the last 12 years.”
Smith then spoke of why he believes he’s so valuable, alluding to the success of his own show The Stephen A. Smith Show in addition to his appearances on First Take and a variety of other ESPN properties.
“I’m not just a talent. I’m a business,” Smith said. “I’ve got my own production company. I’ve got my own YouTube channel. I’ve got my own show. It’s not even just a podcast. It’s a show with a fully loaded television studio. That’s what I built for myself, that could go linear or digital. The list goes on and on. I’m doing all of these things. I’m not doing all of that to be in second place. I’m not doing all of that to look up at somebody else and see that they’re making more than me when I’m producing superior ratings and revenue. No, I’m not doing that. And I’m not apologizing to anybody for it.”
He did express confidence that a deal could get done with ESPN with his contract up next year, saying he’s “incredibly happy” with the company and he has been treated “incredibly well” by them over the years. But big-money deals like the one McAfee received to bring his show to the network have changed the market, and we’ll see if Smith can get the lucrative deal he’s hoping for to stay with ESPN.
