Smith claimed that he has been number one every week and every month of every year for the last 12 years.

“I’m not just a talent, I’m a business!” Stephen A. Smith demands more money from ESPN owing to his No.1 status for the last 12 years

Stephen A. Smith is more or less synonymous with ESPN. The veteran sports analyst is not only a contributor to the network’s various shows; he is one of the longest-serving members as well. So one might be led to believe that the 56-year-old would be handsomely paid for his work. Smith is, but in his eyes, he deserves more.

He first joined ESPN in 2005, hosting a daily hour-long show, Quite Frankly, with Stephen A. Smith. Even though the show had a very short television lifespan, Smith’s wasn’t. His career took off, and audiences could frequently see him ranting on several shows, such as Pardon the Insurrection and the Jim Rome Show.

Over the past decade, he has been able to build a name for himself as one of the most popular sports analysts on US television. In a recent interview with OutKick’s Clay Travis, Stephen A. Smith revealed that he is not satisfied with his current income and has aspirations of being the top earner on ESPN.

Smith claimed:

Clay Travis, April 1st will mark 12 consecutive years I've been number one. I've been number one every week and every month of every year for the last 12 years. You don't get to say that about too many people.

Besides his presence on TV, he has a YouTube channel that has 422,000 subscribers:

I'm not just a talent. I'm a business; I have my own production company, YouTube channel, and my own show. It's not even just a podcast. It's a show with a fully loaded television studio.

How much does Stephen A. Smith earn at ESPN?

In late 2019, Smith put pen to paper on a five-year, $60 million deal, which sees him paid a salary of $8 million per year along with a $4 million per year production contract. However, Stephen A. believes that he gets underpaid compared to his “white” colleagues.

“I’m not just a talent, I’m a business!” Stephen A. Smith demands more money from ESPN owing to his No.1 status for the last 12 years

Stephen A. Smith (Image via Variety)
Smith said:

Just like women are underpaid compared to their male counterparts, blacks are underpaid compared to their white counterparts. 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.

Currently, the highest-paid ESPN sports analysts are former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Super Bowl winner Troy Aikman and Kirk Herbstreit (both $18 million). They are followed by Joe Buck on $15 million and then Stephen A. Smith.

Smith said that ESPN treats him “incredibly well,” but it’s still a “business,” and he believes that Disney (the parent company of ESPN) has the right to run the “way it sees fit.” He hopes that, in the future, they will be able to agree.