Pat McAfee recently announced the huge news that he is moving his popular show to ESPN, and we now have a better idea of what the network paid to secure the rights.
McAfee has signed a five-year deal with ESPN that is worth around $85 million, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports. The former NFL punter represented himself in negotiations and did not have an agent.
Marchand reached out to McAfee to ask about the $85 million figure, and McAfee only called it an “interesting number.” He would not share any information about how much he is being paid and refused to “talk about the business side of it all.”
McAfee also did not go into detail about why he chose to walk away from what was reported to be a four-year, $120 million deal with FanDuel. The 36-year-old did, however, say that one of the draws for him with ESPN is that the network will “be handling a lot more of the back-end stuff.” McAfee and his wife Samantha recently welcomed a baby girl, so McAfee felt signing with ESPN would help him take some responsibilities off his plate.
“Their production assets, league rights capabilities, and access to everything in the sports world makes us incredibly pumped about the possibilities and can’t wait to get started this fall,” McAfee said.
Another interesting tidbit McAfee shared is that he will be paying his own employees and fully producing “The Pat McAfee Show.” ESPN will not tell him who he can and cannot have on the show, and that includes Ian Rapoport of NFL Media. Rapoport has been a regular guest on “The Pat McAfee Show,” though it is unclear if he will want to continue with the appearances given that he often shares inside information during them.
Many are concerned that the independence of McAfee’s show is what truly made it great. He insists nothing will change at ESPN, but we already shared why we think he is lying to himself and his fans.
