The relationship between Pat McAfee and ESPN can best be summed up in two bits of pop culture. One is a scene from a TV show; the other is a line in a song.
You’ve probably seen the scene from Mad Men where Peggy Olsen fights back tears as she tells Don Draper that he has never thanked her when she gives him an idea that turns into a successful ad campaign for one of their clients. Don shouts back “that’s what the money is for!”. I never watched Mad Men and I have seen that clip a million times.
Remember that scene. We’ll come back to it later.
The song I am thinking of is Tom Petty’s “Into the Great Wide Open.” It’s not a hard lyric to find. It’s the chorus.
Into the great wide open
Under the sky so blue
Into the the great wide open
A rebel without a clue
Pat McAfee built a brand. He’s the rebel…or at least he was the rebel. He did things his way and succeeded outside of the typical sports media ecosystem. But now, he has the ESPN logo in the corner of the screen whenever he’s on.
Anyone crowing about being an outsider with the ESPN branding slapped all around them looks silly. Maybe Pat McAfee is still a rebel, but if he can’t see that circumstances have changed the way he’s perceived, then he’s a rebel without a clue.
All of ESPN’s zeros may have made Pat McAfee rich and put him in front of a lot more people, but they also kind of ruined what he had built. He wants to be an outsider, but how can you call yourself an outsider when you’re in business with Mickey Mouse? I think Pat McAfee would be happier without ESPN in his life.
Things Changed Even if McAfee Didn’t
Pat McAfee will tell you that he and his crew are still fully independent. The show is not a Disney product. It’s just licensed by Disney to air on ESPN platforms. It’s the same kind of deal as the ones that made headlines for Inside the NBA and Rich Eisen.
McAfee still exaggerates his Yinzer accent when he cusses like a sailor on television. He’s still surrounded by a couple of nondescript schmucks and a cowboy wearing eyeliner. AJ Hawk still pops on to agree with everything Pat has to say. It all still happens inside his Indianapolis studio.
When McAfee looks around him, I get why he may struggle to accept that there’s a new reality at hand here. But the fact is that Pat McAfee is viewed differently now than he was three years ago. He still has his ride-or-die fans, but he also has a whole new audience that views him not as a rebel or even as an individual.
That audience sees just another ESPN personality, another cog in the most powerful machine in the sports world. They don’t see anything that can be construed as an underdog. That’s a problem for Pat McAfee, because he has defined himself as an underdog for his entire career.
Enemies Everywhere
Pat McAfee is a diva. I don’t say that as an insult. It’s a conclusion based on a whole lot of evidence.
I don’t know anyone who works on The Pat McAfee Show, but I bet they feel valued. There is plenty of evidence that Pat treats those guys very well and is genuinely devoted to them.
The people that work outside of that Indianapolis studio are different, though. They aren’t allowed to criticize or question anything he does without feeling his wrath. Just ask Norby Williamson.
Forget criticism. McAfee sees enemies in other people simply not praising him. He loves to throw the word “rat” around for those people, which is kinda nuts. The “if you aren’t with me, you’re against me” attitude should be reserved for war and superhero movies. I honestly can’t believe McAfee’s fans think it’s cool, but then again, I’m a Xennial, and we mock first and learn to love later.
That’s What the Money Is For
What happened to rich people that they all now want to be relatable? We see it regularly at the very high end with Elon Musk copying every meme he sees on the internet and with Mark Zuckerberg constantly dressing like a twelve-year-old.
But it’s happening on the more conceivable end of the income spectrum too. Just look at McAfee’s ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith calling into another SiriusXM show to make sure the audience knows he is not the bad guy that got Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker fired.
Personally, I don’t get it. You’re rich. Why do you care if you’re liked?
All of these people seem to really, really care, though. The same goes for McAfee. He clearly hates people reporting on anything he does. It doesn’t matter if the reporting is true or not. McAfee is offended that he didn’t give Andrew Marchand or anyone else permission to say it out loud.
Take the report that he paid Aaron Rodgers and Nick Saban for their appearances on his show. McAfee never gave any indication that what he was doing was wrong. He defended it at every turn, and that’s okay. I don’t think most people in this industry thought McAfee was breaking any rules. At most, it was talked about as exploiting a gray area.
Pat McAfee’s objection was that Marchand would report anything about him or his show at all. He didn’t give Marchand permission to do that. In McAfee’s mind, you only get to write about him or his show if he gives you permission.
Remember when I said that Mad Men scene was going to come back? Well, Pat, buddy, you took ESPN’s money. That creates more interest in you and what you do, and that means reporters are going to write about how your show works. You’re not always going to like that, but that’s what the money’s for.
It’s a lot of money, and that’s hard to walk away from. And I have no right to say that is what Pat McAfee should or shouldn’t do anyway. I have worked at Barrett Media for a long time, and so I have been covering and paying attention to Pat McAfee for a long time. I can honestly say that he seemed a lot happier before going into business with ESPN.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Demetri Ravanos is a former columnist and editor for Barrett Media. He is the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host of the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
