Skip Bayless’s net worth
Skip Bayless is an American sports columnist. He is one of the richest personalities in America. Skip Bayless has a net worth of $17 million. Skip Bayless became a household name through his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show First Take. After leaving ESPN in 2016, Skip started co-hosting his show on Fox Sports 1, Skip and Shannon: Undisputed. His co-host, Shannon Sharpe, left the show in mid-2023.
On August 2, 2024, Skip himself announced he was not only leaving the show but also Fox Sports at large. Bayless has developed a reputation for being a commentator that pulls no punches. Although he is very knowledgeable about a wide range of sports, Skip is a favorite among fans because of his fiery delivery style, ability to debate virtually anyone on any sports-related subject, and sometimes hilarious predictions. While these predictions aren’t always correct, they certainly succeed in capturing the audience’s attention.
Skip Bayless’s early life and successful career
Skip Bayless was born on December 4, 1951, in Oklahoma. He is the son of John Sr. His parents worked in the restaurant business, Skip considered a career as a restaurateur before going into the sports entertainment world. During his senior year at high school, Skip became the sports columnist for the school’s newspaper.
He eventually graduated with honors and gained the Grantland Rice Scholarship (essentially a sportswriting scholarship) to attend Vanderbilt University. During his time at Vanderbilt, Bayless became the sports editor at The Hustler, which was the student newspaper. Towards the end of his college years, Skip interned at The Daily Oklahoman under sports editor Frank Boggs. After graduating from Vanderbilt, Skip immediately found work at The Miami Herald, where he wrote sports features for about two years.
Following this, he moved to the Los Angeles Times in 1976 and became well known for his investigative journalism. Some of his most notable stories during this period involved the Los Angeles Dodgers and their collective resentment of Steve Garvey. He also exposed Carroll Rosenbloom’s questionable decisions to start different quarterbacks each week for the Rams.
In 1977, Bayless won an Eclipse Award for Outstanding Newspaper Writing for covering the Triple Crown victor of Seattle Slew, a famous racehorse. At age 26, Skip moved to The Dallas Morning News to write its sports column. Three years later, he started writing for the Dallas Times Herald.
Towards the mid-1980s, Bayless won the Texas Sportswriter of the Year award three times. In addition, Skip has published several books. Towards the end of the 1990s, he started writing for the Chicago Tribune after 17 years of working in Dallas. Some of his work has also been published in notable magazines, such as Sports Illustrated.
Bayless also gained recognition for his work in the radio world, starting with a talk radio show in Dallas in the early 90s. In the mid-90s, he frequently appeared as a guest on ESPN’s radio show The Fabulous Sports Babe.