ESPN host Stephen A. Smith told an NAB Show audience Monday that he is open to the possibility of running for president of the United States in 2028.
“I have no desire to be a politician … but I am no longer going to close that door,” Smith said on stage during an interview with Mike McVay, president of McVay Consulting.
Smith, host of “First Take,” recently inked a $100 million, five-year contract extension with ESPN and until recently had joked about making a run. However, over the past few weeks, he said, he’s “had no choice but to get a bit more serious about it.”
Speaking during the NAB Show Welcome, Smith told McVay and those gathered on the Main Stage in West Hall that he has been approached by “people on Capitol Hill,” governors and others about a run.
Smith — whose memoir is titled “Straight Shooter” — threw shade on both political parties, the Trump administration and politicians in general, saying they put their interests above the people they are elected to serve.
He described the Democratic Party as “an absolute mess.”
“It’s leaderless for a variety of reasons,” he said. “And it’s disgraceful, as far as I’m concerned, because there is no excuse for it. They veered this country in an extreme direction. They were so busy talking about the MAGA right, they didn’t look at themselves looking like the MAGA left.”
Meanwhile Republicans shouldn’t forget what they are about and rest on their laurels from an election that gave them both houses of Congress and the presidency, Smith continued.
“One party should be purged, and the other party should watch themselves because there is a midterm election coming up,” he said, “and how you feel sticking out your chest, thinking you’ve got it made right now. In a little over a year you could find yourself on the outside looking in all over again.”
Smith criticized the president over a “haphazard” approach to implementing tariffs. “Tariffs are not a bad thing,” Smith said. “I just think the way he is imposing them has been disastrous,” he said.
“He is coming across as somebody who is devoid of having a plan. If he has a plan, he is the only one who seems to be aware of it, and he’s not thinking about the ripple and collateral effect it ultimately has,” he said.
“You’re scaring the markets; you’re scaring prospective employers; you’re scaring … the American citizen.”
The session opened with Perry Sook, Nexstar chairman and CEO and chair of the NAB Board’s Executive Committee, welcoming the audience and introducing NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt.
LeGeyt said the NAB expects more than 60,000 registrants from broadcasters, creators, innovators and storytellers.
“Stories inspire us. They connect us in ways that nothing else can. … In the past year, Americans wept as we grappled with the personal impacts of wars in Gaza and Ukraine. We were inspired as we watched heroes battling blazes that rippled through California neighborhoods and communities rallying together to rebuild in the aftermath of hurricanes,” he said.
“And we escaped, into the silver screen and our phones, as your storytelling swept us away to magical lands to defy gravity, and our sports heroes thrilled us in a chase to break a decades-old NHL goal-scoring record. Stories — whether real or fantasy — are the invisible threads that weave our shared human experience.”
At the heart of that experience, he said, are content producers, broadcasters, filmmakers and virtual reality pioneers. And each year, he said, nearly $17 billion in business is generated through connections made at this convention. “Nearly 1,100 exhibitors spanning 12 football fields will display their latest innovations on our show floor.”
Karen Chupka, NAB executive vice president and managing director, global connections and events, showed off a new NAB Show logo that represents the evolution of the event to meet the needs of its diverse community.
Syndicated radio personality Delilah was honored with the American Broadcasting Foundation’s Insight Award.
Heidi Raphael, chief communications officer at Beasley Media Group, and Jack Goodman, co-chair at the Law Offices of Jack N. Goodman, presented the award.
COPYRIGHT NAB 2025.
