He’s been known as what’s wrong with ESPN, part of the “Embrace Debate” movement brought in by former Bristol wunderkind Jamie Horowitz. But now, he’s part of an exodus of talent in the wake of cost cutting at the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Skip Bayless, one-half of ESPN2’s First Take, will be leaving in June according to a statement:
Skip Bayless has decided to leave ESPN when his contract expires at the end of August.
His final appearance on First Take will be the day after the NBA Finals conclude.
We want to thank Skip for his many contributions to ESPN. His hard work and talent have benefited ESPN for 12 years.
Bayless joined ESPN in 2004 as a contributor to ESPN.com and a commentator on the old morning show, Cold Pizza. He was part of a feature every morning that had him debate issues with Woody Paige and it ventually evolved into First Take where he debated Stephen A. Smith. Through the show, Bayless became emboldened to say just about anything that came to his mind, consequences be damned. He eventually became very well paid as he and Snith made First Take into one of ESPN2’s more popular daytime shows.
Now the conventional wisdom is that Bayless will join Horowitz out in Los Angeles to form an opinion-based daytime lineup that already includes former ESPN’er Colin Cowherd. Horowitz has also brought in Jason Whitlock and we have seen former First Take substitute debater Rob Parker on FS1 as well. So perhaps the former ESPN wunderkind is building a lineup which he hopes will bring in eyeballs for FS1.
In the meantime, Bayless will count the days until he leaves. It also adds another high profile person to leave the Alleged Worldwide Leader this week, Mike Tirico being the other.
With things happening so fast, pretty soon, we’ll need a scorecard to keep up with the changes in Bristol. Pretty soon, this song will be playing in the hallways at ESPN.
