‘Undisputed’ Hiatus Due to Fox’s Inability to Find Replacement for Shannon Sharpe, per Report

Fox Sports reportedly is struggling to find someone to debate alongside Skip Bayless.

Skip Bayless’s Undisputed sports debate show hasn’t aired a new episode since Shannon Sharpe left as co-host last month. Fox Sports says the show will return to its FS1 channel on Aug. 28, while Bayless says he is “in the lab this summer” just like LeBron James.

However, it doesn’t appear as if the hiatus was planned too far in advance. Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reports Fox Sports is struggling to find a replacement for Sharpe, and the hiatus is merely to give the network more time to fill the role.

“Skip has never done anything like this during all his years at FS1 or ESPN,” a source told McCarthy. “Not being on the air during all these NBA moves is killing him.”

Fox Sports could consider pairing Bayless with Nick Wright, who already works for the company, or it might consider Max Kellerman, who recently was let go by ESPN, according to McCarthy. However, Bayless has final say over everything related to the show, and McCarthy surmised that Bayless actually wants to work with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith again.

Additionally, McCarthy explains that Undisputed could scrap the permanent one-on-one aspect of the show and could instead use a rotating series of guests, just like ESPN does with First Take and Smith.

While Bayless is on a break from TV, he is still recording weekly episodes of his solo podcast, The Skip Bayless Show.