Stephen A. Smith, ESPN reportedly agree to 5-year, $100-plus million contract

Stephen A. Smith has agreed to a lucrative new contract with ESPN, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported. The deal will be for five years and worth at least $100 million.

As part of the deal, Smith will continue to appear on First Take, which continues to draw big viewership. However, he will no longer regularly appear on ESPN’s NBA pregame show as he’s done the last two seasons. It’s part of the plan to scale back his workload at ESPN to allow him to dive more into political talk, Marchand reported.

Additionally, ESPN recently came to terms on a licensing agreement with TNT Sports to air Inside The NBA next season. The deal was part of a settlement and TNT will receive a package of Big 12 Conference football games in exchange.

However, Smith could still appear on other ESPN programming outside of First Take. That includes Monday Night Countdown or pregame shows for other big events, according to Marchand.

In addition to his work at ESPN, Smith also continues to build his podcast, The Stephen A. Smith Show. On the show, he not only talks sports, but politics and other relevant topics making news.

That venture took Smith farther into the political realm as he also made appearances on FOX News and NewsNation during the 2024 presidential election. By scaling back his workload at ESPN, Smith could be free to do more outside of sports, as well.

Stephen A. Smith expected ‘to get paid’

Negotiations between Stephen A. Smith and ESPN have been going on for the last year as he worked to stay one of the network’s highest-paid employees. At $100 million, his contract would be worth more than Monday Night Football analyst Troy Aikman’s five-year deal worth $90 million and the agreement to license Pat McAfee’s show, set at five years and $85 million.

Smith previously addressed his contract negotiations with ESPN in September 2024 at Front Office Sports’ “Tuned In” event. He said he expected to “get paid” and continue to strive for greatness in the business.

“I expect to get paid, and I’m not apologizing for that to anybody,” Smith said, via Barrett Sports Media. “I’m going to work my tail off. I’m striving to be the best that I can be or put in the hours [to] produce results [to] the best of my ability, and those results are what I’m going to look at to define my worth.”