Looks like there will soon be room for argument on Fox Sports 1’s signature program “Undisputed.”
Skip Bayless, the longtime sports commentator who left a role on ESPN’s hot-talk showcase “First Take” in 2016 to co-anchor a similar concept at Fox Sports, is expected to leave the network sometime after the end of the summer, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Fox Sports declined to make executives available for comment. The New York Post previously reported Bayless’ expected exit.
Bayless’ departure comes a little more than a year after the exit of co-host Shannon Sharpe, who has since landed a role, in all places, at “First Take.”
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“Undisputed” has faced headwinds since Sharpe’s exit. It has coalesced into more of a roundtable program, with a less distinct central personality. Bayless hosts with a rotating group of panelists that typically includes Keyshawn Johnson, Michael Irvin, Richard Sherman, Rachel Nichols and Paul Pierce. The assemblage has not proven as popular with viewers as the back-and-forth of Sharpe and Bayless.
Bayless has enjoyed a long career in sports TV. As he gained notice by working stints working as a sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Times-Herald and The Chicago Tribune, Bayless also found his way to other media, including the Dallas radio station KLIF; ESPN Radio’s “The Fabulous Sports Babe”; and his own bespoke radio program. In 1989, he joined ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters” as a panelist, and subsequently worked frequently with popular sports broadcaster Jim Rome. He joined ESPN full time in 2004, first taking part in a debate segment on the ESPN2 program “Cold PIzza,” which eventually became the template for “First Take.”
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