Last week news broke that Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe had reached a buyout agreement with Fox Sports and will be leaving the network’s hit morning sports debate show “Undisputed,” which he co-hosted with Skip Bayless.
The duo joined forces back in 2016 when the show debuted after Bayless left ESPN’s “First Take” over a contract dispute.
Sharpe, a two-time Super Bowl winner, was chosen to sit opposite of Bayless, the well-known shock value analyst.
And while the two seemed to get along for the most part, there have been some pretty contentious moments in the past few months that solidified that this marriage had run its course.
This week, during an episode of “The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast,” Colin Cowherd — also of FS1 — was filling in for John Ourand, and he gave his opinion on the breakup.
Cowherd Says Tandems Have Cessation Dates
When asked about the split, Cowherd, who knows both pretty well, described what he thought might’ve led to Sharpe’s exit.
“Well, tandems, and often the more popular they are, all have an expiration date,” Cowherd observed.
“In New York — Mike and The Mad Dog. The bigger you are, the more highly compensated you are. They can be territorial. Now, I don’t know the Shannon-Skip dynamic other than what I’ve read. They were right next to me. Got along fine.”
Cowherd proclaimed that Sharpe will land on his feet because he’s now a bona fide star.
“Look, Shannon’s a star, and I think in the opinion space, there’s maybe five-six people that can migrate an audience. And so I think Shannon’s probably one of those. Wherever he surfaces, he’s gonna do really well. It doesn’t matter. I had an agent, Nick Khan, he was a star. He went to WWE. Shocker. He was a star. Michael Rubin creates a company, sells for billions to eBay, and then he starts Fanatics, worth billions. Peyton Manning, Indy/Denver. It works. Stars work wherever they go. Shannon’s gonna work.”
Cowherd continued by saying he never saw the contention or discord between the two, but he again talked about duos eventually running their course.
“I’m not in their production meetings,” Cowherd continued.
“I stay as far away from management as I can with negotiations. Mine have been thankfully, very quick, very brief, very friendly. But I think tandems are hard, I mean there was Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman. Mike and the Mad Dog. Shannon and Skip. Mike and Mike [Golic and Greenberg].
“I think they have an expiration date. But, there’s not a lot of Shannons in the opinion space. There’s a lot of people doing it. There’s not a lot of people doing it at a high level. And Shannon’s theatrical, and he’s funny, and he’s handsome, and he’s on his feet and he’s got strident strong opinions and he cuts through. So, I think he’s gonna flourish wherever he goes.”
Sharpe And Bayless Butted Heads A Lot Lately
First there was the back-and-forth in December 2022, when Bayless told Sharpe that Tom Brady was better than he was after Sharpe rightfully criticized his play. That didn’t go over well, as Sharpe removed his glasses and let Bayless know he was not some scrub, and, yes, he’s Brady, but the former tight end was a Hall of Famer himself.
That was followed up with what many considered an insensitive tweet by Bayless following Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapsing on the football field. Sharpe didn’t report to work the next day in what purportedly was a sign of disgust at the tweet, and upon return he confronted Bayless over the tweet.
While there were other instances, for sure these two stand out. And the speculation is because of this Sharpe will conclude his nearly seven-year run on “Undisputed” at the conclusion of the NBA Finals which the Nuggets lead 2-1.
