Analysis | Like him or not, Pat McAfee is exactly what ESPN wants to be (2024)

The new line predates current president Jimmy Pitaro, but it is also his lodestar. He was never a fan of the “Worldwide Leader” line, anyway. And for anyone wondering why Pat McAfee, the former punter turned digital darling of sports media, is joining ESPN, that is the fundamental reason: Pitaro believes McAfee’s mix of cross-platform star power and relatability is exactly what sports fans, particularly younger sports fans, want.

ESPN announced Tuesday that McAfee’s show, which he produces and has been airing on YouTube, will take over a block of afternoon television on the network. It will also stream on ESPN’s app and YouTube channel. The exact shake-up of the network’s fall TV lineup is unclear, but the Max Kellerman-hosted “This Just In” may move to accommodate McAfee.

To join ESPN, McAfee is exiting a four-year sponsorship deal with FanDuel that was worth around $120 million. He is already a part of ESPN’s college football coverage, having hosted an alternate telecast for the national championship game and contributed to “College GameDay,” including doing a backflip into the Tennessee River in Knoxville last year. The new deal will make McAfee a full-timer at ESPN.

His daily show is unlike anything currently on ESPN, and luring it is Pitaro’s biggest content swing outside of live sports during his tenure. It is shot at a studio in Indiana and has the vibe of Barstool Sports — far more casual than the suited talking heads usually seen on ESPN but without the baggage of Barstool founder Dave Portnoy. It has betting segments and a recurring cast of co-hosts including former Green Bay Packer A.J. Hawk. McAfee’s show reached new heights in recent years thanks to its weekly news-making interviews with quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the NFL season. Rodgers announced he was heading to a darkness retreat to contemplate his NFL future and that he intended to play for the New York Jets on McAfee’s show. (Indeed, another staple of Pitaro’s ESPN is athletes and ex-athletes leading programming instead of sports journalists.)

ESPN has clashed with some of its boundary-pushing talent in the past, from Bill Simmons to Jemele Hill to Dan Le Batard, for being too critical of the leagues that are the company’s business partners or wading too far into politics. McAfee promised in an announcement video that his freewheeling show would remain true to its roots. “We ain’t changing a damn thing,” he said, though he acknowledged he and his co-stars would curb their currently robust use of profanity.

ESPN declined to comment on the terms of the deal, but the high-profile signing is the latest example of the company willing to pay exploding salaries to top stars. Insider reporters such as Adam Schefter are earning between $5 million and $10 million; Stephen A. Smith is getting more than $10 million; Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are paid $15 million and $18 million, respectively, to call “Monday Night Football.” McAfee’s deal is likely in that Buck-Aikman range, or higher. (The New York Post pegged McAfee’s deal as worth eight figures.)

Those deals come at the same time that multiple rounds of layoffs are hitting ESPN this summer, part of an expansive cost-cutting initiative by ESPN’s parent company, Disney, that has sapped morale inside the company. ESPN hopes McAfee’s show can pay for itself. To do that, he will need his digital popularity to translate to TV. Pitaro believes McAfee has wide crossover appeal, noting to colleagues that both his father and his son are McAfee fans.

McAfee was a Pro Bowl punter with the Indianapolis Colts until he retired in 2017, then 29 years old, and went to work for Barstool. He has worked with several companies in his brief but meteoric rise through sports media, including Sirius XM, FanDuel and DAZN. Pitaro has now made him one of the faces of ESPN.