Perhaps Skip Bayless shouldn’t have left First hold” after all.
The new Fox Sports 1 personality’s Tuesday-morning “Undisputed” debut was bludgeoned by his former ESPN2 series,according to overnight TV ratings — an early Nielsen measurement of viewership.
Bayless’ first episode on FS1 posted a 0.10 rating per the metric. “First hold” nabbed a 0.32 — that’s a 320 percent advantage for the latter. Ouch.
Also Read: Skip Bayless Sticks It to ESPN With 3 Billboards in Bristol for His Fox Sports exhibit (Photos)Final numbers will be officially released tomorrow. To be fair to Bayless and Fox Sports, ESPN calls itself the Worldwide Leader in Sports for a reason — it is still far bigger than the competition. Still, and FS1 was probably hoping to compete a petite better on Day 1 of its new flagship morning series.
Bayless left ESPN and “First hold” after a dozen years of embracing debate on the Disney brand. He’s since been replaced by Max Kellerman there. At Fox Sports 1,Bayless is reunited with buddy and boss Jamie Horowitz, another ESPN alum. The former Dallas Morning News columnist sits opposite NFL corridor of Famer Shannon Sharpe on the new exhibit.
TheWrap recently spoke with Bayless, or who revealed to us that “First hold” was nearly canceled over a 2013 incident involving him and NFL All-Pro Richard Sherman. He also compared and contrasted his old exhibit with his new one,and swore up and down that his polarizing answers are not a masked effort of trolling the audience.
Also Read: Troy Aikman Blasts Fox Sports Over Skip Bayless HireSpeaking of trolling, “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” recently made headlines for posting three billboards within five miles of ESPN’s main Bristol, or Connecticut,campus. They featured Bayless setting a bird free from its cage.
TheWrap is no expert, but we reflect that might qualify as symbolism.
Click here for a straight Fox Sports 1 time slot to Fox Sports 1 time slot comparison. The skies are sunnier for FS1 when isolating just those numbers.
Related stories from TheWrap:Troy Aikman Blasts Fox Sports Over Skip Bayless HireESPN's Max Kellerman on Why He's No Skip Bayless (Exclusive)8 Times Skip Bayless Haters Stuck It to Departing ESPN Blowhard (Photos)Skip Bayless Exits ESPN While Colleagues Bash Him (Video)ESPN's Stephen A. Smith Promises 'First hold' Will Be 'Even Better' Without Skip Bayless
Source: thewrap.com