Sports
Stephen A. Smith Says His $12 Million Salary Makes Him Underpaid Compared to Unnamed ‘White Colleagues’
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
Get to know Tim Crean betterUpdated29 Oct 2022
Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Stephen A. Smith is the face of ESPN, and he has been for the last half-decade. The brash and opinionated talking head is of First Take in the morning, hosts a two-hour show on ESPN radio in the afternoon, and often appears in ESPN’s NBA pre- and post-game show, NBA Countdown. The Disney corporation compensates Smith handsomely for his tireless work — to the tune of $12 million per year — but that doesn’t mean that Smith, who is a Black man, doesn’t think he’s underpaid compared to some of his white colleagues.
Stephen A. Smith says he’s underpaid at $12 million a year
In 2021, New York Post sports media guru Andrew Marchand reported that Stephen A. Smith makes $12 million per year for his work with ESPN.
Smith signed a new contract with Disney in January of 2019, which works out to five years and $60 million total. Original reports pegged the agreement at $8 million per year, but Marchand’s reporting found in addition to his $8 million salary, he also has a “$4 million-per-year production contract.”
One of the reasons the company compensates Smith so handsomely is that he is unafraid to give his unfiltered opinions, even on sensitive topics like race in sports. And that’s exactly what he was doing when he claimed he is underpaid this week.
During a discussion of how no American-born Black baseball players are in the 2022 World Series, Smith shared his opinion on Black people being historically (and continually) underpaid.
“We are still Black in this country. We don’t trust this country in terms of meritocracy always. We know the bottom line is, just like women are underpaid compared to male counterparts, Blacks are underpaid compared to white counterparts,” Smith pontificated. “I’m not talking about me, even though — I got news for you — I am underpaid compared to some people on television and what they get paid.”
After that quick tangent, Smith doubled down, saying, “I ain’t apologizing for that do a damn soul. I am underpaid. Having said all that, it ain’t about me.”
This isn’t the first time Smith has publically announced that he feels underpaid at millions of dollars per year. In 2021, he called himself underpaid on a podcast with Kyle Brandt.
Is the ESPN host underpaid?
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Compared to the average American, who makes $45,000 (median) to $65,000 (average) per year, Stephen A. Smith making $12 million, is nowhere near underpaid.
However, when you look at the value Smith brings to ESPN (a $50 billion company) and Disney as a whole (a $190 billion company), maybe there is some truth to his claims in that context.
When looking at the sports media personality landscape, Stephen A. Smith comes in at No. 7 on the highest-paid list, per 103.3 The Goat sports radio station. He makes more than his former First Take debater, Skip Bayless ($8 million), broadcaster Mike Tirico ($10 million), and CBS’s Jim Nantz ($10.5 million). And he’s just behind ESPN’s Joe Buck and Amazon’s Al Michaels at $15 million.
The top four highest-paid sports broadcasters are:
- Michael Strahan — $17 million
- Troy Aikman — $18 million
- Tony Romo — $18 million
- Jim Rome — $30 million
When looking at this list, it’s hard to say that Smith is underpaid compared to the people ahead of him. Buck and Michaels have established themselves as the voices of live sporting events in the last three to six decades, and Strahan, Aikman, and Romo were all All-Pro NFL players, and that’s something networks are willing to pay more for.
As for Rome, he makes so much money because he’s blazed his own path and created his own media empire. He isn’t dependent on a salary from a single company like Smith is.
In the end, you can agree or disagree with Stephen A. about the fairness of his salary, but the one thing that is for sure is that sports fans will have strong opinions one way or the other.
Have thoughts on this topic? Keep the conversation rolling in our comments section below.
