Pat McAfee has taken a calculated risk in calling out ESPN executive Norby Williamson, and despite the drama playing out in the headlines, Chad Withrow believes ESPN has done well in weathering the storm.
On Monday’s edition of OutKick Hot Mic, Withrow told co-host Jonathan Hutton that Pat likely had some inkling that calling out Williamson wouldn’t rock the boat too much at ESPN.
ESPN president of content Burke Magnus had to have been on McAfee’s side according to Withrow, who pointed to Magnus hanging out with McAfee and company in their end-zone suite last Saturday night for the Texans/Colts game in Indianapolis, as well as Pat saying Magnus was among the group of executives and leaders at the network he’s had no problems with.
Still, Chad Withrow did say he liked how ESPN has managed to stay the course and not skip a beat during all this.
“I can’t help but think, how many companies would actually continue to function properly with something like this happening?” he asked. “I’m gonna give ESPN a little bit of credit here, because there are clearly some huge egos at play, and we’ve encountered plenty of executives. And anybody who’s worked in corporate media understands the egos of executives and talent at times.
“And when those egos start to butt heads, usually it leads to someone saying, ‘Well either he’s out or I’m out, and I’m not gonna continue doing this job because I can’t work under these conditions,’ right?”
Hutton suggested that Williamson is outnumbered in terms of those in the executive circles at the network who appear to have any issues with McAfee. He thought if it came down to a “Him or Me” situation, it likely wouldn’t go well for Williamson.
Withrow also gave ESPN credit for not being reactive to the drama and keeping McAfee on the air on Monday. It was a platform McAfee appeared to double down on his comments, only this time not saying Williamson’s name specifically.
Pat McAfee carried on to run an alternate field-level broadcast of the CFP championship on Monday night in Houston for ESPN, and Withrow just found it interesting no dominoes have fallen.
“The fact we’re here and nothing drastic has happened is pretty crazy,” Withrow said. “And not really a bad sign for ESPN.”
Ultimately, the OutKick host felt like McAfee was the big winner in all of this, with Williamson coming out on the losing end. ESPN also seems to come out of this looking good.
“There are winners and losers in sports, there are winners and losers in life,” Withrow said. “McAfee, winner, Norby Williamson a loser, ultimately I think ESPN kind of a side winner in all of this. Because the McAfee show gets more credibility, he’s gonna continue on with ESPN.
“Not all publicity when it comes to stuff like this can be bad,” he added. “It can kind of raise the profile of everything and I think it’s doing it.”
