Pat McAfee revealed Thursday that FOX Sports blocked Derek Jeter from appearing on his show.
McAfee revealed that Jeter had been scheduled as a guest for Thursday’s program to coincide with MLB Opening Day. However, Jeter told McAfee that FOX stepped in to block the appearance.
“I actually got a personal phone call from Derek Jeter saying ‘Hey, there’s broadcast stuff. Networks doing their thing. I’m not happy about it,'” McAfee revealed. “There’s a lot of history between the networks. We’d just like to let everybody at FOX know, we get it. We understand completely.”
I've got some bad news..@derekjeter will not be joining the progrum today#PMSLive https://t.co/9xRkebiJcl pic.twitter.com/7kmQe7NmNX
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 27, 2025
Notably, as McAfee’s co-host Ty Schmit pointed out, the Yankees’ Opening Day game against the Milwaukee Brewers in New York is on ESPN Thursday afternoon. Presumably, FOX did not want one of its top talents essentially promoting a rival network’s baseball coverage, which McAfee understands.
FOX also has its own radio shows that Jeter can appear on, even if those appearances have not always gone smoothly.
Jeter has been with FOX Sports since 2023. He is a member of the network’s pregame and postgame shows alongside David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez. Perhaps in the future, FOX will be more permissive of Jeter appearing on ESPN once the network no longer broadcasts MLB games live starting next year.
