The two deans of embrace debate are reuniting. Skip Bayless will join Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take this Friday, Front Office Sports has learned.
The reunion of the two former TV partners is described as a “one-time show.” It will be the first time Bayless and Smith have appeared together on ESPN’s top-rated morning show since June 2016.
After signing a five-year, $100 million contract extension in 2025, Smith is ESPN’s highest-paid talent. But he’s nothing if not loyal to Bayless, whom he’s referred to as a “brother from another mother.”
Smith has also publicly praised Bayless for saving his TV career and setting him on the path to becoming ESPN’s biggest star.
In 2009, Smith was let go by ESPN after the cancellation of his talk show, Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith. But Bayless went to bat for his friend, bringing him aboard First Take as a guest debater. In 2012, Smith joined Bayless on the show full-time. From there, First Take became one of ESPN’s biggest hits, inspiring a wave of copycat embrace-debate programming.
Bayless jumped to Fox Sports’s FS1 to launch the rival debate show, Undisputed, with Shannon Sharpe in August 2016. That made Smith—not Bayless—the main star of First Take, and he never looked back. Smith consistently spanked his mentor and longtime sparring partner in the ratings for years until Bayless and Sharpe’s TV marriage imploded in 2023.
Bayless continued to host Undisputed until the show’s cancellation in 2024. After leaving FS1, he has continued to opine on sports on his personal YouTube channel, as well as on Underdog’s The Arena: Gridiron, which he cohosts with Gilbert Arenas. Smith and Bayless have made occasional media appearances together in recent years, although none have occurred on ESPN airwaves.
“No one has ever quite matched the chemistry that maybe God above gave us,” Bayless told Smith when his old partner appeared on The Arena in February. “Can’t teach it, or coach it. It just worked, and it was entertaining, and enlightening. It was just fun.”
As executive producer of First Take, Smith holds the ultimate power on the show. He pushed out former sparring partner Max Kellerman in 2021 when he felt the show had plateaued. This year, he weathered the departure of former moderator Molly Qerim. From January through April, his show averaged 517,000 viewers, up 5% versus the same period in 2025.
The 58-year-old Smith successfully pushed ESPN to bring on Sharpe as a semi-regular debate partner during football season, following the Hall of Fame tight end’s exit from FS1. So don’t be surprised if this “one-time” reunion with the 74-year-old Bayless turns into a recurring element of the show.
In addition to Bayless, other First Take appearances this week include rapper Cam’ron on Tuesday and personality The Kid Mero on Thursday.
