Stephen A. Smith explains $100m ESPN contract demands with brutal dig at Dak Prescott

Описание: #englishnews #stephenasmith #dakprescott

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Longtime talking head Stephen A. Smith is arguably the face of ESPN programming. The veteran commentator is paraded from show to show calling the shots of wherever he may find himself, very much akin to an NFL quarterback.

Smith's contract is up after this year. When describing how he's valuing negotiations in an interview with CNN's Christopher Wallace, the pundit compared his situation to the recent standoff between Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys.

“Your ESPN contract is up next year and the word on the street is you want something in the range of $100 million for 5 years," Wallace prefaced to Smith.
“It ain’t false. I always want as much money as I can get, I’m not going to apologize to that I’m a capitalist," Smith said. "I would ask, respectfully, pay attention to the industry, see what people are getting paid, see how much money they're making and what they're bringing to the table. Look at their ratings, look at their revenue that they're generating and look at mine."
“Dak Prescott just signed a contract for $240M, he’s making $60M a year [and] has won 2 playoff games in 8 years," he continued. "I’ve been No. 1 for 12 [years]. I’m In our respective industries, I win. I’m fully aware what I’m worth and I will never apologize to that for anybody."
The 56-year-old Smith joined ESPN in 2005 with the show "Quite Frankly with Stephen A Smith." He's since featured on First Take, NBA Countdown, the Stephen A. Smith Show, and SportsCenter.

ESPN has recently followed a plan of laying off medium earners such as Zach Lowe and Robert Griffin III while spending money on either A) top-tier talent like Pat McAfee or B) media rights.
Prescott was slated to become a highly-coveted free agent in the 2025 NFL offseason. After a protracted summer of negotiations, he finally signed a four-year, $240 million extension with $231 million guaranteed.

Prescott now has the highest annual average salary in American sports. Despite Smith's critique of his play, the Cowboys quarterback has a career 75-43 record as a starter and led the league in touchdown passes last year.
Smith also appeared on the Tuned In show with Front Office Sports to discuss his contract and echoed a similar sentiment.

“I expect to get paid, and I’m not apologizing for that to anybody,” Smith said. “I’m going to work my tail off. I’m striving to be the best that I can be or put in the hours [to] produce results [to] the best of my ability, and those results are what I’m going to look at to define my worth.”