Former ESPN star Bill Simmons admit this week that he’s uncertain about Stephen A. Smith’s future in the sports media industry.
Smith, 58, is still the face of “First Take” on ESPN. Sports fans can watch him rant and rave every weekday at 10 a.m. ET. Those who prefer listing to the radio can hear Smith’s takes on his daily show for Mad Dog Sports Radio. Additionally, he hosts a weekly political show for SiriusXM.
Simmons, the founder of The Ringer, believes Smith’s schedule is a bit too demanding at this stage in his career.
“There’s new people in charge of this stuff, who it’s fair to say are pro-McAfee. And Stephen A., who got this new deal and is on two other shows that aren’t on ESPN, and it seems like they’ve come to an, ‘Okay, you’re just gonna do First Take, maybe pop on a couple other things every once in a while.’ And that’s gonna be his ESPN relationship. But that was not the case two years ago,” Simmons said, via Awful Announcing.
“I don’t know if you should be on three shows a day. I don’t think that’s sustainable. It’s just a lot of work. I’m somebody who does shows. It’s hard to research them and follow everything, and to just do three a day every day, I worry about him. I don’t know if that’s ultimately going to be efficient for him, but I guess we’ll see.”
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No signs of slowing down.
Despite already having so many shows on his plate, Smith may land a role on “60 Minutes” in the future.
According to Lachlan Cartwright, CBS has had discussions with Smith about reviving the “A Few Good Minutes” segment.
If Smith isn’t feeling run-down at this stage in his career, he might just seek out another broadcasting opportunity.
