Pat McAfee, the host of the wildly popular Pat McAfee Show, has decided to move on from his relationship with FanDuel and host his show on ESPN, according to Andrew Marchand at the New York Post.
McAfee’s previous deal with FanDuel ran for four years and was worth $120 million, but he broke the deal early to pursue the ESPN relationship. McAfee’s show has grown since 2017, and in June 2020, the show’s YouTube channel had 272 million total views. By May 2023, that number grew to 1.49 billion.
ESPN’s deal with McAfee is reportedly eight figures, according to the post. It’s not yet known whether McAfee or ESPN needs to pay a severance fee with FanDuel.
Pat McAfee’s Rise to Popularity
McAfee’s career in sports media began first as an athlete. As a specialist at West Virginia, he started off kicking field goals and kickoffs but became the Mountaineers’ punter shortly after his freshman season. In his senior season, McAfee was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award and was drafted in the seventh round by the Indianapolis Colts.
McAfee quickly gained a reputation for having an unusually strong and visible personality as a specialist. He would eventually be come to known for his on-field celebrations for coffin-corner punts or vicious tackles. Moreover, McAfee was successful, making two Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team while setting a few team records, like total yards per punt and net yards per punt.
McAfee had always had an interest in professional wrestling and appeared in a local wrestling promotion in West Virginia a month before the NFL Draft. After his career concluded in 2016, he trained with a professional wrestler.
That background has shown through in his media career. After his retirement from professional football, McAfee briefly joined Barstool Sports and hosted an early version of his show on SiriusXM, using the promotional skills often associated with professional wrestlers in order to generate a unique voice in the football space.
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In 2018, McAfee left Barstool to found his own media company, where he experimented with various forms of the show. The show first formed as a radio broadcast with some clips uploaded to McAfee’s YouTube channel.
Eventually, McAfee landed on a YouTube-first format for the show, where it exploded in popularity, allowing him to negotiate with sponsors or rights providers for more than the ad revenue YouTube provided. This meant McAfee became the rare football player with more wealth generated after his playing career than during it.
McAfee’s new deal with ESPN occurs in a climate of layoffs both at ESPN and around the sports journalism world.
McAfee still participates in wrestling promotions and is signed with the WWE. He also makes appearances on college and NFL broadcasts as an alternate color commentator or as part of the pre-game broadcast.