Pat McAfee joining ESPN in multimillion-dollar blockbuster
“The Pat McAfee Show” is moving to ESPN in a multimillion-dollar deal that is expected to begin in the fall, The Post has learned.
In the process, it appears as if McAfee will walk away from his four-year, $120 million contract with FanDuel.
He is in the second year of the agreement.
The amount ESPN will pay McAfee is not fully known, but it is more than eight figures per year, according to sources.
The move comes with Disney in the midst of layoffs in which 7,000 jobs will be eliminated, including some at ESPN.
After The Post broke the story online, McAfee, 36, appeared at Disney upfronts on Tuesday
While McAfee is already a regular on ESPN’s “College GameDay” and does college football alt-broadcasts with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions for ESPN, his YouTube show is more free-wheeling, including liberal use of the f-word.
McAfee said his show now will limit its use of the word.
Pat McAfee is joining ESPN on a contract worth more than eight figures. Getty Images
McAfee’s program, which formerly included the FanDuel logo in the upper corner of the screen during the show, had grown in popularity by streaming on YouTube.
ESPN and McAfee said that all three hours of his show will remain on YouTube and will also appear on ESPN and ESPN+.
ESPN executives had vowed to only work out a deal if they thought it would make money for the company.
When The Post reported last week that ESPN had emerged as the favorites for his services, McAfee said on his show that he is too dumb to change in response to some of his fans’ concerns about Mickey Mouse sanitizing the language and the vibe of McAfee and his crew.
If McAfee does have full control, it may indicate that the Disney deal is some sort of licensing agreement.
McAfee is expected to bring his crew with him.
That includes former Pro Bowl linebacker A.J. Hawk and several of his longtime friends, who are on-air presences for the program.
McAfee has had a meteoric rise in sports media after he walked away from millions as a Pro Bowl and All-Pro punter for the Colts following the 2016 season.
Pat McAfee (c.) working for ESPN in 2019. Getty Images
In just seven years, McAfee has found a lot of success and a lot of employers, beginning with Barstool Sports.
He has had working relationships with ESPN, Fox, DAZN, SiriusXM, Westwood One and, in his biggest deal, with FanDuel.
McAfee has said he wanted to take the burden of the behind-the-scenes work off his plate. Because he owned his own company, McAfee had to deal with all the business decisions.
The ESPN partnership should alleviate that pressure. McAfee and his wife just recently had a baby girl together.
McAfee has been an insurgent sports media force, using the levers of social media and YouTube to build an empire that resulted in the FanDuel deal.
He is now on to the next big thing, a 43-year-old company that has billed itself as “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” but wants to appeal to a younger generation.
The move instantly becomes one of the biggest sports media stories of the year.
Source: New York Post
