Could there be more drama surrounding The Pat McAfee Show and ESPN? According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, he quotes several sources with several different stories, as McAfee has shared on his social media feed the hashtag #UpToSomethingSZN. This has historically meant there are rumblings behind the scenes with the McAfee Show.
One of the sourced stories that Marchand posted Thursday morning is that ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter has been banned from the program in recent months, stemming from an incident during an ESPN2 broadcast free agency special on March 12.
According to Marchand, McAfee wanted Schefter to be a part of his program on the day of the new league year beginning. However, Schefter was reportedly not able to show up for the program. As a result, this reportedly led to Schefter’s banishment from the show. Nevertheless, Ty Schmit, who is a contributor to McAfee’s program, remained in his role with The Adam Schefter Podcast.
Subsequently, after Marchand reached out to ESPN about Schefter’s absence from the program, a spokesperson for the network said that Schefter will be making his return to the show Thursday after roughly three months off it.
ESPN signed an agreement with McAfee in 2023 for a multi-year deal reportedly worth $85 million. This brought the budding sports media personality’s program to the network. Importantly, it should be noted that as part of the agreement with McAfee, ESPN does not have any creative control over the program’s content. As a result, this has allowed several names from other networks to have a presence on the McAfee program—for example, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport.
Furthermore, Marchand later explains in his reporting that McAfee is having some conversations about starting his own version of College GameDay. He also recounts an incident when McAfee grew upset during an airing of College GameDay in Norman, OK last year, when he was shown swinging and missing during a segment of the program. According to Marchand, McAfee demanded to know the name of the producer who put the content on the air but was denied that information.
“Pat and his show are thriving on ESPN,” ESPN president of content Burke Magnus said in a statement to Marchand. “We are very pleased with the partnership. That said, in the nearly three years since Pat has brought his show to our platforms, we’ve continuously seen those out there that are seemingly obsessed with wanting to see Pat fail on ESPN. This rumor is just the latest example of that. Pat and his show continue to break the mold and reach new audiences, and we look forward to the continued success together.”
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ESPN is the failure for putting McAfee on the air and giving him carte blanche. He’s a big mouth poser who thinks he’s important. Reminds me of JT the brick. for those of us over 30, McAfee is unwatchable.