ESPN's Chris Broussard Got $10,000 To Speak At A Public University

On ChrisBroussardSpeaks.com, Chris Broussard—ESPN’s frequently wrong personality who once said being gay was an “ open rebellion to God” and more recently had Mark Cuban call his reporting “ridiculous”—asks, “Is your audience ready to dig deeper and gain more insight into themselves than ever before?” If they are, he offers himself: motivational speaker, leader of men, and sports reporter, in that order. He even breaks it down with some charts.

The question of how much will all this will cost you goes unanswered on his website. Now we know, though—or at least have a good idea—thanks to a public records request from Ohio University. Most of Broussard’s clients, as listed on his website, are private entities, but in March he spoke at the public university. I requested a copy of his contract and any riders. In return, I got four pages of mostly standard contract language, which also included how the university paid.

It’s worth noting that while $10,000 is a nice chunk of cash, it’s a bit more than a third of what Stephen A. Smith got ($26,500) to speak last year at the University of Florida. In Broussard’s case, his agreement required a 50 percent honorarium paid due upon signing of the agreement, with the balance due the day of the event. He originally was scheduled to speak Jan. 29; the date was moved to March due to an illness, according to the university.

So did Broussard help his audience “dig deeper and gain more insight into themselves than ever before”? I didn’t find much press coverage of the event, but the university’s website has a writeup, saying more than 300 people attended the event. Broussard talked about his early years, how he got to ESPN, and defended his 2013 appearance on Outside the Lines, when he called being gay “an open rebellion to God.”

When asked by an audience member what he would say to the people who were offended by his statements, Broussard said he didn’t apologize because he didn’t feel as if he did anything wrong. He said he also appreciated that ESPN executives never asked him to apologize.

Broussard said diversity of thought is important and we all need to understand tolerance.

He said he does not hate or discriminate against homosexuals and was simply just stating what the Bible says about it. He told the audience that one of his friends in the journalism business wrote a scathing article about his comments.

“I have good friends who are gay,” Broussard said. “We get more diverse by the day in this country. I knew what I signed up for as a Christian. If you stand for what you believe, people have to respect you.”

Broussard added that he would love to see athletes commenting on important social issues but only if the athletes know what they are talking about, saying, “If they don’t know the issue, don’t speak on it.”

The full contract is below.