Skip Bayless reunited with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take last Friday. It was an attention-grabbing development across the football media landscape. But things turned sour when an OutKick article, which was prominently featured on Fox News, framed it as a desperate attempt to bump up ratings. According to Smith, everything is fine and dandy at First Take. 

Addressing the controversy through his radio show, Smith said, “Instead of just celebrating Skip Bayless coming back to First Take for the day, I’m seeing articles here on Fox News, Awful Announcing, along with others…one article actually said, ‘Why is Skip Bayless coming back?’ And it’s talking about ratings slip.

“He’s coming back because I wanted him to come back for a day. Because I haven’t been with my guy in 10 years,” the sports analyst said. “Ratings slip? We’re still number one. We’ve had record ratings over the last five years. At some point in time, that’s not going to happen, because how many records can you break?”

OutKick, which is now owned by Fox News, boldly claimed that ‘First Take’ was no longer the powerful title it was on ESPN’s programming. Get Up and The Pat McAfee Show, which air before and after the show, reported an 18% and 16% increase in viewership, respectively. However, the rise for ‘First Take’ was only 5%. Bayless coming to show in such a situation might have furthered the narrative that ESPN had become desperate. Moreover, Bayless was returning for only one day. 

Fox News argued that Smith’s show was nowhere near the top of ESPN’s programming and that Fox had “tripled” First Take‘s ratings. It also claimed that ESPN has “taken notice” of the show’s slump in numbers. And, Smith being signed on a five-year, $100 million contract is also a bad look on the network’s attempt to get First Take back up to form.

Moreover, getting Skip Bayless was not going to do much for the show, even though he is a big reason why it became popular. Smith and Bayless had become big rivals after the latter moved to FS1. He began Undisputed with former NFL star Shannon Sharpe, but it was hardly successful. The show failed with Sharpe exiting in 2023, who now runs a very successful podcast called Nightcap, with Chad Ochacinco.

Smith, however, remained adamant that First Take is at a good spot.

“Let them keep their headline,” he continued. “But please understand that I average over two billion views on YouTube annually, with First Take alone.”

However, the broadcaster did not get to have the last laugh in this feud.

Outkick author responds to Stephen A. Smith on social media

Taking to X, Bobby Burack addressed a few things about Smith’s rant about his Fox News article. He fired back at Smith for not sticking to his words, claiming that the analyst had texted him a few months back, saying that he was done reading his columns. He pointed out that there’s absolutely no competition for sports talk on TV, as he acknowledged Smith’s claim of being the No. 1 show. Despite what he alleged, Burack’s reportage has continually reported the truth.

“I said his show is not seeing the same growth as the shows before and after it. That is a fact. And I know ESPN had taken notice. So does he,” Burack justified. “I pointed out that Smith said he had zero interest in bringing Skip back a year ago because he had “moved on.” Something changed.”

Burack also argued that Smith had said in the past that he had moved on from Bayless after he left for FS1. But that was obviously not true, as Bayless returned on ESPN. Even more interestingly, Burack has requested to interview Smith many times, but has refused to sit down with him. But the latter is still interested in what the former has to say, it seems.

Furthermore, the article also puts the blame on Stephen A. Smith for the downfall of the show. He has reportedly become “increasingly uninterested” in his content. Smith’s once exciting and energetic rants seem predictable and repetitive. And, many have also noted how politics tends to weave into the talk as of late. Even though Smith claims that the outside noise isn’t affecting his work, the numbers clearly paint a different picture.