Skip Bayless leaving 'Undisputed' as final departure date from FOX show emerges

Skip Bayless is leaving FS1 show "Undisputed" after eight years as host, according to the New York Post . It's reported his final show will be later this summer, leaving a year after Shannon Sharpe departed the hit show.

Bayless has been a polarizing but unmissable figure on the daily sports talk show since it launched in 2016. He was synonymous for his on-screen relationship with Sharpe before his departure last summer. Bayless became full-time host last summer after Sharpe's exit and various panelists have filled in alongside Bayless since then, including the likes of Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson, Richard Sherman and even Lil' Wayne.

Bayless's exit marks the end of an era for the popular show and a major move as FOX Sports, who tempted Bayless to join from ESPN back in 2016. He left behind 'First Take', the show he was known for along with Stephen A. Smith, to make the move.

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Colin Cowherd, who also made a big-money move from ESPN to Fox Sports in 2015, just before Bayless, is also a free agent after the end of the most recent football season. While Bayless is leaving the show, 'Undisputed' is set to continue without him.

The New York Post reported in 2021 that Bayless signed a four-year deal with the network worth $32 million. That would leave him under contract until 2025, although former colleague Sharpe reached a buy-out agreement with the network.

Sharpe explained the time was right for him and Bayless to part ways when he left last summer. A rift developed between the pair and he claimed Bayless had "no respect for him".

Sharpe said on The Stephen A. Smith Show last year: "Skip Bayless did not make Shannon Sharpe relatable. Skip Bayless did not make Shannon Sharpe the storyteller he is.

"Skip Bayless did not make Shannon Sharpe the football player that can break down plays and say, 'This is what happened. That's what happened. And this is why the play worked or didn't work.'

"Yes, I'm going to miss aspects of it. Yes, I'm going to miss debating him. But it had gotten to the point the last six or seven months... and I won't allow it to ruin the six great years that we had. But it had gotten to the point that we needed to go our separate ways."

Bayless, meanwhile, declared his pride at what the pair achieved together when Sharpe left. "What a run we had together, nearly seven years’ worth," Bayless said on the latest episode of his podcast, "The Skip Bayless Show", last year.

"That’s nearly 4,300 live, on-air hours sitting across from each other at that debate desk, battling, laughing, haggling over bets on games. … When I shared that figure with my wife, Ernestine, her response was, ‘You spent more time with him than you spent with me.’ Well, not exactly true. But it did sometimes feel that way. Which meant that in a way, Shannon and I were kind of a married couple on TV."