After months of anticipation and excitement, The Pat McAfee Show made its ESPN debut on Thursday, coinciding with the first day of the National Football League season. As the familiar sights and sounds of First Take faded from the screen, a disclaimer appeared as a narrator read the notice prior to the show’s electrifying introduction playing on the air.
“The following progrum is a collection of stooges talking about happenings in the sports world,” the message read. “It is meant to be comedic informative. The opinions expressed on this show do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of their peers, their boss, or ESPN. There may be some ‘cuss’ words because that’s how humans in the real world talk. If you are a young, please seek permission before watching any further.”
From there, the show started as usual, lauding the start of the NFL season as the Detroit Lions take on the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:20 p.m. EST/5:20 p.m. PST on NBC. McAfee outlined the key storylines of the game, specifically the quarterback battle between Lions starter Jared Goff and the Chiefs’ reigning Super Bowl champion and Most Valuable Player award-winning superstar Patrick Mahomes. After some time passed, McAfee addressed the move to a linear network, which is essentially simulcasting the YouTube version of the show on its airwaves, albeit on a slight tape delay.
“We can’t thank you enough for joining us here on ESPN and on our YouTube where it’ll be status, the same,” McAfee said. “But here on ESPN, we want to let you know that we are a show that is very thankful and lucky to be here. We are honored to be here, and what we’re about to do for the next couple of hours is something that you might not have seen a lot in the world of sports media, especially on linear television. We’re about to have a great… damn time.”
About 10 minutes into the show, McAfee welcomed New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers onto the show as its first guest. Part of the reason McAfee and his cast gained traction in the sports media landscape was because of their weekly interviews with Rodgers, who always brought his perspectives and insights about the game of football to the air. The appearance was brief and featured a conversation about ESPN’s censorship rules, something that Rodgers assured the viewers that he would have no part of.
“I will not be censoring myself,” Rodgers said, “so if you’ve got to go over and watch it in different places, I will be the same old, same old, and I look forward to speaking with all of you in the near future.”
ESPN is licensing 235 episodes of McAfee’s program, a move that garnered considerable backlash since it happened in close proximity to The Walt Disney Company laying off 7,000 employees to slash $5.5 billion in operating costs. Additionally, ESPN cut several members of its on-air talent roster, some of whom have since found new platforms to continue working in sports media. As for McAfee, he will now have a dedicated two-hour slot on ESPN’s linear channel and appear on College GameDay on the weekends, which averaged 1.7 million viewers leading up to the showdown between UNC and South Carolina.
“If it wasn’t for Aaron, our show doesn’t go to the places that it has been ever,” McAfee said. “Those conversations on those Tuesdays have evolved into something pretty remarkable, and I’m very open to this. A lot of people who hate our show will say, ‘Only ‘cause Aaron Rodgers spoke on our show is it good.’ That’s a pretty good call – we would agree completely – so we’re excited that Aaron Rodgers’ Tuesday is back.”
Other guests throughout the first episode of the program include Omaha Productions founder and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Competing against the McAfee show on linear television is The Herd with Colin Cowherd on FOX Sports 1, which also airs on FOX Sports Radio affiliates around the United States.
