Stephen A. Smith Snubbed From '100 Most Influential People In Sports'

TIME released its first-ever magazine highlighting the top 100 most influential people in sports, with superstars like LeBron James, Shohei Ohtani, Roger Goodell, Bill Simmons and Lionel Messi filling the ranks of people who impact the way we enjoy and consume sports. But a noteworthy absence from the list was ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

TIME didn't exactly clear a ton of room for ESPN reporters and personalities. Pat McAfee and Shams Charania were the only ESPN employees to make the list.

But Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports still found it amusing that Smith didn't make the cut.

"Strange. TIME names ESPN's Pat McAfee and Shams Charania and others to its inaugural list of 100 most influential people in sports. But it leaves off ESPN's Stephen A. Smith?"

Problems with the List

Sports fans found no shortage of things to complain about with the TIME 100 list and Smith's absence didn't even crack the top five. By far the biggest gripe people had was LeBron James, dubbed "Athlete of the Century" on the cover, being so heavily featured. Others took issue with things like Hilary Knight being featured instead of Jack Hughes for Olympic hockey or soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo failing to make the cut.

"I really appreciate LeBron. i think hes top five NBA player of all time. hes my exact age. Beat the odds in so many ways. Went to a crazy amount of finals. But how is this not Tiger or Brady or Messi?" one user remarked.

"Hilary Knight over Jack Hughes. Yeah right. Clown world," wrote another.

"If he wrote the blueprint for exceeding expectations why did he underperform everywhere he went?" a third asked of LeBron.

As for Smith, he certainly has an influence on sports. He's on almost every show involving America's largest sports and is trying to make an even larger footprint on culture with his podcast, flirts with politics and appearances on non-sports shows.

Do you think Smith should have been on a list like this? If so, who should he replace?

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 10:09 AM.