Why did Skip Bayless leave 'First Take'? Revisiting 2016 jump to Fox Sports that 'pissed off' Stephen A. Smith
Here's why one of sports media's most famous personalities left ESPN.
Why did Skip Bayless leave 'First Take'? Revisiting 2016 jump to Fox Sports that 'pissed off' Stephen A. Smith originally appeared on The Sporting News .
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . For years, two of the most well-known opinionists in sports would spend their mornings debating the day's hottest topics. Stephen A.
Smith and Skip Bayless were two of the front-facing stars at ESPN from around 2012-16, when they shared their takes — then argued plenty — on "First Take. " While the two were eventually viewed as a dynamic duo of sorts as "First Take" grew in popularity, it was Bayless who brought that run with Smith to an end, deciding to leave for another network. Here's what to know about Bayless' 2016 exit from "First Take.
" MORE: Why Stephen A. Smith called out Tiger Woods following golfer's DUI arrest Why did Skip Bayless leave 'First Take'? When his ESPN contract was set to expire in the summer of 2016, reports indicated by April of that year that Bayless would be leaving the network to join Fox Sports, where he would have the opportunity to anchor his own show.