ESPN reportedly wants even more Pat McAfee on Monday nights this NFL season. The network is pursuing NFL approval for a McAfee alt-cast on Monday Night Football.
What We Know: McAfee will join ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown panel this season, the network announced Wednesday. That adds to his daily show and College GameDay duties. Meanwhile, ESPN is negotiating a broader deal with McAfee reportedly worth $60-65 million annually, according to The Athletic. If approved, McAfee’s team would likely cover games on ESPN2 during weeks the Manning brothers’ alt-cast isn’t airing.
What’s At Stake: If McAfee’s concept is approved by the league, this will lead to McAfee being presented on ESPN or ESPN2 on some weeks for more than ten hours of the broadcast day on Monday nights. Following the success of the McAfee show alt-cast models from the College Football Playoff, ESPN may be looking for consistency this season in providing viewers more options every week.
What Remains Unclear: The NFL hasn’t decided whether to approve the McAfee alt-cast, and no timeline has surfaced. It’s also unclear exactly how many games McAfee would cover, though reporting suggests around eight.
What It Means: ESPN is chasing consistency across its alt-cast lineup, since the Mannings don’t appear every Monday. Adding McAfee would fill those gaps and could stretch his Monday workload. Ultimately, the move reflects how central McAfee has become to ESPN’s football strategy — and how much the network is willing to pay to keep him there. But ESPN is also running a risk of oversaturation with McAfee. Whether or not viewers will gravitate to a McAfee alt-cast over the proven entity of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman is unknown. Also, how this would affect the network’s relationship with Omaha Productions, if any, is also unknown.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.