Stephen A. Smith and ESPN have agreed to a five-year contract worth at least $100 million, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.

Per that report, the new pact “will result in Smith continuing to star on First Take on ESPN while scaling back some of his other required appearances on the network, which would free him up to talk even more about politics, sources briefed on the agreement told The Athletic.”

Marchand noted that Smith will no longer appear on ESPN’s pregame NBA programming, though he could drop in for basketball studio shows or Monday Night Football pregame programming. With the popular Inside The NBA coming to ESPN next year, Smith moving away from that type of content makes sense.
He has also become a more frequent guest on political shows in recent years, and this new deal is expected to free him up for more appearances of that variety.

Smith has publicly suggested that he doesn’t plan to run for president in 2028, however, which probably will be a relief for Dallas Cowboys fans in particular:

.@stephenasmith addresses rumors that he’s running for President in 2028 👀 #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/I2gu7rwSNV

— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) March 6, 2025

The 57-year-old has become ESPN’s flagship personality thanks to the success of First Take’s debate-show format, surviving a number of host and personality changes around him. He has been a regular fixture on other programs, however, though his new deal is expected to make him “less omnipresent on the rest of the network” outside of First Take.