Editorial

Pat McAfee Joining ESPN, Leaving $120 Million Contract With FanDuel

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After the New York Post's Andrew Marchand reported Pat McAfee was leaving FanDuel for a lucrative deal with ESPN, the man himself confirmed the news Tuesday. [Twitter/Screenshot/Public — @PatMcAfeeShow]

[Twitter/Screenshot/Public — @PatMcAfeeShow]

Andrew Powell Sports and Entertainment Blogger
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My man is about to get an even bigger bag!

After Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Pat McAfee was leaving FanDuel (and that shiny $120 million contract) for what’s sure to be a lucrative deal with ESPN, the man himself confirmed the news Tuesday.

McAfee‘s $120 million contract was over four years, and the former NFL punter and media tycoon was in his second year with FanDuel for his “The Pat McAfee Show.”

As far as the deal with ESPN, the details are currently unknown regarding how much it will be worth, however, it’s over “eight figures” per year, according to Marchand’s report. McAfee is also taking his crew — which features former NFL linebacker A.J. Hawk — to ESPN with him.

Currently a hit on YouTube, “The Pat McAfee Show” will remain on the platform with the only change being that it will be moved to ESPN’s channel, according to McAfee himself. He also said that the show will make appearances on ESPN and ESPN+.

Vowing to “not change a damn thing,” McAfee ended up announcing one change that was going to happen. With the language of the show not being fit for daytime television and dealing with a network that’s owned by “family-friendly” Disney, McAfee announced that “we have decided that we won’t be saying f*** nearly as much, but every other word is good to go.”

I won’t lie, I was totally one of those people he was referring to in his announcement video that was worried that things were going to switch up being with ESPN. I mean, it’s ESPN after all. The worldwide leader in sports that’s controlled by the apparent G-rated Mickey Mouse. Even my man Dan LeBatard had a message for him about “don’t change.”

But what an outstanding job Pat McAfee did to give us all comfort, and also, crazy kudos to him for getting a massive payday and 100% creative control on top of that. And he’s doing this with the biggest sports media outlet of them all in ESPN (say what you want, but it’s still a sexy brand)? (RELATED: Ja Morant Speaks Out For First Time After Being Rocked With Second Gun Scandal)

Pat McAfee scored a major victory here, just pure winning all around. Congratulations, king!