Stephen A. Smith Net Worth And Salary
Stephen A. Smith is a sports media personality from the United States who has a net worth of $16 million. Among his many television appearances, Stephen A. Smith is best known for his appearances on numerous ESPN shows. He also works as a writer, contributing to the ESPN websites as well as The Philadelphia Inquirer. Stephen A. Smith has also had tremendous success on talk radio, which is another medium in which he has worked. Aside from that, Smith has appeared in a number of films as an actor, most of which have had him in a cameo role as his own character.
Stephen A. Smith received a salary of $5 million per year for numerous years, up until April of this year. He got a new contract with ESPN in mid-April 2019 that pays him $8 million per year, making him the highest-paid ESPN personality in the world. That contract made him the highest-paid sportscaster in the world for a little more than a year, until he was surpassed by Tony Romo’s gigantic $17 million per year CBS contract, which was signed in March 2020.
Stephen A. Smith Early Life
Stephen A. Smith was born in the Bronx, New York, to a father who owned and operated a hardware shop business. Stephen’s father was a well-known basketball and baseball star before he became the owner of the family hardware store.
Having been born in 1967, he was raised with six other siblings, the youngest of whom was two years older than he was. Smith had a strong interest in basketball from a young age and was awarded a basketball scholarship that enabled him to attend Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. Prior to attending WSSU, he spent a year studying fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
His college basketball career included time spent under the tutelage of legendary coach Clarence Gaines. Stephen A. Smith probably gained a great deal of insight and tactical understanding about the game of basketball as a result of his participation in this endeavour.
Despite the fact that his instructor was well-known and popular, Smith was not hesitant to publicly criticise him. Smith was a columnist for the campus newspaper, and as he neared the end of his undergraduate career, he urged that Gaines should step down because of his poor health. Stephen A. Smith received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1991.
Stephen A. Smith Career
In his first significant media job after college, Stephen A. Smith worked as a clerk in the sports department of the Winston-Salem Journal, where he learned the basics of the trade. This position would prove to be a springboard to greater success in the future. It didn’t take long for him to find better-paying positions at publications such as the Greensborough News & Record and the New York Daily News. However, it was when he was employed by The Philadelphia Inquirer that he would make his most significant breakthrough.
The Philadelphia Inquirer Reports
As an NBA reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Stephen A. Smith initially concentrated solely on the Philadelphia 76ers; however, his job with the publication grew over time and he eventually became its managing editor. Over the years, he was promoted twice more, and he eventually rose to the post of general sports columnist for the newspaper.
His position with the Philadelphia Inquirer was terminated in 2008, despite the fact that he had built quite a significant following through the publication. In response, Smith launched his own blog, which resulted in his winning a legal lawsuit against his former employer two years later. The decision said that Smith must be rehired by The Philadelphia Inquirer and that Smith must eliminate all political and personal viewpoints from his material.
ESPN
His first role with the sports media giant was as an analyst for the NBA Shootaround pregame show, which later evolved into NBA countdown. Stephen A. Smith began working for ESPN in 2003, and his first role with the company was as an analyst for the NBA Shootaround pregame show, which he held until 2007.
Stephen A. Smith was hosting his own show, Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith, which was terminated in 2007 after only two seasons. His own daily broadcast, titled The Stephen A. Smith Show, was also launched in his honour. Having said that, sports fans are most likely familiar with him from his appearances on ESPN’s First Take, which he joined in 2012.
Besides Dream Job, Stephen A. Smith has appeared on a variety of other ESPN series, including Pardon the Interruption, Jim Rome is Burning, and Sportscenter. Smith signed a contract in 2014 that would pay him $3 million per year for the next five years. From 2015 until April 2019, Stephen A. Smith earned a total of $5 million as an ESPN employee.
In April 2019, it was announced that Smith had signed a new contract with ESPN that would keep him on the network until 2021 and pay him between $8 million and $10 million per year. In light of these figures, Smith has established himself as one of the highest-paid television personalities in the history of ESPN.
Acting Career
Stephen A. Smith has been in a variety of television shows and films, beginning with his appearance on the General Hospital series. Smith has been a fan of the show for a long time and has participated in cameo appearances on several occasions. Smith made an appearance in the Chris Rock film I Think I Love My Wife, which was released in 2007. Furthermore, the television personality has appeared in a number of Oberto beef jerky commercials.
Radio Career
Stephen A. Smith has been significantly involved in Talk Radio throughout his career. In 2005, he began his radio career in New York City at WEPN radio. ESPN Radio eventually aired the second part of the show. At Fox Sports Radio in 2009, Smith began contributing to their morning show and was subsequently promoted to host. Chris Russo’s Mad Dog Sports Channel, which was hosted on Sirius/XM, was Smith’s new employer in 2013. Smith returned to ESPN in 2017 and is now the presenter of a Sirius/XM radio show. He made $1 million from his Sirius/XM radio show between 2015 and 2019.
Personal Life
In spite of his age, Stephen A. Smith has never been married. They are only one year apart in age, but nothing is known about their lives. To keep his personal life private, Smith has not revealed any details regarding his personal relationships.
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