Let’s talk about Stephen A. Smith making some serious bank with his new gig on Sirius XM and two other gigs. I mean, $40 million a year? That’s insane!
The deal is reportedly for Smith to host a political show on the popular satellite radio platform, which is a bit of a departure from his usual sports commentary but hey, a paycheck is a paycheck, right?
According to a new report in The Athletic which coincides with the start of Smith‘s new show, the sports commentator is now raking in a whopping $40million-a-year from across three platforms.
Smith, the report states, earns a base of around $33million that touches $40m once revenue from YouTube channel and podcast is taken into account.
Back in March, Smith put pen to paper on a new five-year ESPN deal worth a staggering $105million. On top of that, the overall worth of his Sirius XM deal comes in at $36million across three years, The Athletic says.
Speaking in a debate with OutKick founder Clay Travis in New York this week, Smith joked that his life is ‘really, really good’ at present.
But his pivot towards political debate has seen speculation mount that he may one day make a run for the White House.
If he cares that much about his money, being the President will not appeal – he’d get paid $400,000-a-year to be in the Oval Office, as The Athletic points out.
Yet in his debate with Travis, Smith said people have repeatedly asked him to consider such a move.
‘I have no desire whatsoever to be a politician,’ he said. ‘But I’ve been asked by various people – including my pastor, including people in this business and others – to keep an open mind, because you never know what the state of affairs in this country will be in a couple of years.’
Smith’s next move with Sirius, placing him deeper in the political realm, is also interesting because, in increasingly partisan times, he appears very comfortable in tipping his hat to both parties.
Regardless of what you think about Smith’s new venture into politics, you got to give the man his flowers for securing that kind of bag. Congratulations to Smith!
