Pat McAfee
Pat McAfee continues to expand his profile at ESPN, adding in recent days a role on “Monday Night Countdown” and a potential “MNF” alt-cast.
Pat McAfee continues to expand his profile at ESPN, adding in recent days a role on “Monday Night Countdown” and a potential “MNF” alt-cast. When added to his current role on “College GameDay” and his daily talk show, some are wondering if ESPN is going to the McAfee well too often. Former ESPN anchor Linda Cohn noted ESPN wants McAfee “to be everywhere at every time” and asked, “How much Pat McAfee is enough Pat McAfee?” She said, “Let’s review your potential Monday during the NFL season, which is just a couple of weeks away. Three hours of Pat’s daily show, ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ from the game site. Then Pat joins ‘Monday Night Countdown’ before the game. And then on certain nights, potentially his own alternative broadcast of ‘Monday Night Football.’ At this point, let’s just call it ‘Monday Night McAfee.’” Cohn added she does not blame McAfee for accepting new opportunities that ESPN offers him. She said, “This is about the network and viewers actually demanding more, or has ESPN simply decided viewers should want more of Pat McAfee? Because there’s a difference” ().
: Broadcaster Jon Meterperal noted this is the “classic playbook where you’re building off a lightning rod personality.” He said, “McAfee is outstanding on ‘GameDay.’ He’s outstanding in pretty much everything he does except for singing. He’s got many aspects of his career that he’s cultivated to a point where ESPN says let’s utilizing him to its fullest advantage.” However, he did ask, “How much is too much?” The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand: “That’s the question for both ESPN and Pat McAfee. I think when you’re on too much, you have a tendency to say things that get you in trouble” ().
Denver-based KKFN-FM’s Dante Gomez noted McAfee has “taken over ESPN,” though he did wonder if the outlet has “jumped the shark a little bit and oversaturated their own network with a guy that is a fan favorite for most people.” Gomez said, “I enjoy Pat McAfee’s work. I’m not mad at him. If you’re going to get offers to keep joining and working sports angles and get paid more to do it, take every opportunity you can get. I just don’t know that ESPN, with all the layoffs they had this summer, then they keep putting this guy on basically every show they have” ().
: STATUS.news’ Natalie Korach noted McAfee’s expanded role at ESPN was “perhaps expected, as the network has steadily increased his presence across its programming over the last few years.” At the same time, ESPN, McAfee and his in-house production team “have been negotiating a new, monster licensing agreement reportedly worth between $60 million and $65 million.” A source said that the arrangement “is largely a production deal.” Taken together, the developments “reveal where ESPN is placing its bets -- even if they also raise questions about what the network is supposed to represent.” ESPN typically “rejects the notion that McAfee’s growing footprint is particularly unusual, pointing to other personalities including Scott Van Pelt, Mike Greenberg, and Malika Andrews, who appear across multiple shows.” However, those talents “aren’t inking licensing deals worth tens of millions of dollars” ().