As ESPN prepares for its long and complex journey into the streaming multiverse—protecting the cable asset, launching the Flagship lifeboat, buttressing the broader Disney family of O.T.T. products—chairman Jimmy Pitaro seems to have at least settled on a highly nuanced talent strategy. Pitaro and his top lieutenant, Burke Magnus, have eliminated a tier of pricey and not totally necessary stars (Steve Young, Jeff Van Gundy, Max Kellerman, Tony Reali, etcetera); signed and protected a category of more versatile talent (Dan Orlovsky, Mina Kimes, Malika Andrews, plus newbies like Jason Kelce, Nick Saban, and Bill Belichick); and placed some big bets on—and this is such a Bristol term—the needle-movers.
Needle movers have dedicated personal audiences, the ability to generate ratings, and the appeal to lead their fans to a new O.T.T. service. They’re guys like Mike Greenberg and Scott Van Pelt, who helm hours of general interest TV and have individual sport expertise. Needle-movers are game announcers, like Kirk Herbstreit, Joe Buck, and Troy Aikman, who add unique value to prized media rights relationships, as well as insiders like Adam Schefter. Pat McAfee, and his $17 million production deal, is on that list, too, despite the headaches he causes. So are the Manning brothers. But Stephen A. Smith is the biggest of them all.
Stephen A., whose contract expires within the next six months, is arguably the biggest star in a contract year in ESPN history. And as I reported earlier this year, he was looking to potentially double (and then some) his current $12 million salary in a deal worth more than $25 million per year. Given the vanity and egomania that pervades the industry, it was hardly a surprise that Stephen A. wanted to make more than his colleagues, have a reasonably flexible deal structure, and sort of get to do whatever the hell he wanted—like plug into ESPN’s NFL relationship, for instance. A generation ago, ESPN executives might have let this sort of talent test the open market or depart for the verdant pastures of CNNSI, FS1, or even MSNBC. But not in the needle-mover era.
Stephen A. for Effort
As Marchand reported in The Athletic, Stephen A. and ESPN are inching toward a deal currently structured at five years and around $20 million per. In many ways, it’s a perfect Goldilocks arrangement: Stephen A. will be the brand’s highest-paid star, but ESPN is not on the hook for the entire salary. ESPN Bet has committed to pay several million dollars of that salary each year. Disney will chip in, too, since the deal specifies that Stephen A. can pitch non-sports ideas to the parentco.
Sources said that Stephen A. would continue with First Take and would provide content for ESPN Bet. ESPN has also agreed to identify opportunities for Stephen A. to contribute to ESPN’s NFL and NBA coverage, though that arrangement appears to be less formal than originally thought. Sources tell me that the two sides are close to signing an agreement, but a few issues still remain. None of those issues is expected to derail the deal, but they could delay it when it ultimately closes.
More importantly, the Stephen A. pact is non-exclusive outside of sports content. If the former Philadelphia Inquirer journalist wants to pursue a path toward broader cultural stardom via projects outside sports, he’ll have Pitaro’s green light. For instance, there are persistent rumors that SiriusXM has put forth a considerable bid for him to host a radio show that would cover similar topics to his current YouTube show. Could Stephen A., who has appeared on Fox News, become some sort of Imus?
All we can say for sure is that this type of concession would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago, in the Skipper era, when ESPN positioned itself as the center of the sports media universe. Alas, now all the large-platform companies getting into sports have prompted some creativity. Pitaro and Magnus clearly believe that they are in a battle for on-air talent, not just from competing sports networks, but from the streamers and social media outlets. As a result, they have become much more lenient about letting their stars produce non-sports programming on other platforms. I don’t know about you, but Marchand can’t wait for the Stephen A. baking show and harpsichord YouTube channel.
getting that bread, but he's underpaid still IMO
