Pat McAfee, former NFL player turned sports media personality, has signed a five-year deal with ESPN worth around $85 million. The deal includes McAfee’s weekly spot as an analyst on « College Football GameDay » and the continuation of his show, « The Pat McAfee Show, » which will air on ESPN’s cable channel, free YouTube channel, and direct-to-consumer streaming service, ESPN+. McAfee will also retain control over all aspects of his show, including the ability to have guests like NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. ESPN will receive 230 fully produced shows a year that it can sell advertising against, and it believes McAfee will rate better than « SportsCenter » and Max Kellerman’s « This Just In, » which currently air on ESPN in the 2-3 p.m. slot.
McAfee’s deal with ESPN is similar to Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, where Manning is the lead producer on « Peyton’s Places » and other shows. McAfee’s show will be a McAfee production, and ESPN has no plans to change it. McAfee has developed a strong relationship with ESPN’s chairman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Disney CEO Bob Iger, which convinced him to join ESPN. McAfee wanted to lessen the headaches of running his business and will hand most of that behind-the-scenes busy work off to Bristol.
McAfee expressed genuine regret with the recent ESPN layoffs and hopes that his production deal with ESPN will help the network be the most fantastic it has ever been in their next chapter. He believes that there’s a chance they’ll have an effect on sports media as a whole. Burke Magnus, the new President of Content, has been a cool guy to learn about, and McAfee likes him as a human. ESPN believes that McAfee will rate better than « SportsCenter » and Max Kellerman’s « This Just In, » which currently air on ESPN in the 2-3 p.m. slot.
Keywords: Pat McAfee, ESPN, deal, contract, « The Pat McAfee Show, » « College Football GameDay, » production, advertising, sports media, Peyton Manning, Omaha Productions, Jimmy Pitaro, Disney CEO Bob Iger, layoffs, Burke Magnus.