Ryan Clark Turned Down an ESPN Deal That Would Have Ended The Pivot. He Built His New Show on the Day He Lost

Ryan Clark says the contract offer that came before his ESPN exit would have erased the platform he now uses to reclaim the day he misses most.

Clark spoke with Matt Barnes on All the Smoke in a recent episode. The Super Bowl champion and Emmy-winning analyst said his first offer on his last ESPN contract came with two stipulations. He could no longer do The Pivot, and he could no longer host Inside the NFL.

“If I agree to those things, man, the new sports show does not exist because it’s through The Pivot,” Clark said.

An Offer He Says Wasn’t Serious

Clark said his agent asked how he wanted to respond. He told the agent to say nothing. “This is not a serious offer,” he recalled thinking.

He said the money didn’t make up for the ask. By his account, he was making half of what the lowest-paid member of the original NFL Live cast earned. The new offer would have brought him level with that person while asking him to “put down two revenue streams that are really making you money.”

Clark also questioned why ESPN never tried to partner with the show he spent more than a decade building. He said the network “tried very hard multiple times to create good quality podcasting and failed,” yet bought shows others had created. Clark first described the two stipulations publicly in September; however, the pay comparison is new.

Why Monday Still Matters

Clark’s ESPN run ended on air in July. On the podcast, he shared what he said he hasn’t said publicly. “It does not mean that it doesn’t suck to me that I don’t get to do that job no more,” he said.

That job was Monday Night Countdown. “Every Monday, bro, I was in stadiums. That’s what I did since I was four years old,” Clark said. He hasn’t heard football analysis on a Monday since. “If people are talking, I put it on mute.”

So when he built The Pivot Sports Show with NFL Films, he put it on Monday. “It’s the reason the show’s on Monday,” Clark said. “Monday has always been my football day.”

He described the routine behind it. Clark goes into the building at 6 p.m. Sunday, leaves at 1 a.m., and pulls every video for the show himself. His barber is in the room at 5:45 a.m. before he runs the production meeting.

The Pivot streams on Netflix on Tuesdays and Fridays, and The Pivot Sports Show airs Mondays at 2 p.m. and on YouTube.