Report: Ex-ESPN host Rachel Nichols to join Richard Sherman as 'Undisputed' co-host alongside Skip Bayless
Rachel Nichols will join FS1 as a panelist on "Undisputed," where she will take turns as a co-host verbally sparring with Skip Bayless, Sports Business Journal reports.
Nichols is the latest reported hire alongside former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman and rapper Lil Wayne to join the show as a panelist. They join "Undisputed" after the departure of full-time panelist Shannon Sharpe, who left the show in June.
Sharpe left the show after his relationship with Bayless deteriorated on air amid arguments that turned increasingly contentious. A show based on debating the topics of the day in sports devolved into the pair yelling personal attacks at each other.
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Instead of a single co-host, the show will have a rotating cast of sparring partners for Bayless. The network is also considering hiring either Michael Irvin or Keyshawn Johnson, per the report.
Nichols worked for years as a reporter and host for ESPN and CNN/Turner Sports. She joined ESPN in 2004 as a reporter covering the NFL and NBA. She left ESPN in 2013 for CNN/Turner sports, where she worked as a contributor on the news network alongside duties for TNT's NBA coverage and Turner's NCAA tournament coverage.
She returned to ESPN in 2016 to host "The Jump," a weekday afternoon show covering the NBA. She was a lead voice on the network's NBA coverage before a New York Times report in 2021 revealed leaked audio of her comments suggesting that then-colleague Maria Taylor, who is Black, was promoted as part of a diversity effort.
“I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said in the leaked audio that was recorded in 2020. “If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.”
Nichols and ESPN reached a settlement after the fallout from the article that included her departure from the network. She has since worked as a host on Showtime and a contributor on CNN.
