ESPN make decision on Pat McAfee future as host’s $85 million contract with network winds down

Pat McAfee isn’t going anywhere.

The former Indianapolis Colts‘ punter and kickoff specialist signed a five-year contract with ESPN back in 2023 worth approximately $85 million.

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McAfee retained full creative control over his show, The Pat McAfee show, which became licensed to air on ESPN’s cable channel, the ESPN+ streaming service, and ESPN’s free YouTube channel, and now runs from noon-2pm ET every day.

The agreement also included weekly appearances as an analyst on ESPN’s College GameDay, where he has polarized opinion among college football fans.

McAfee has just passed the halfway point on that initial five-year deal with ESPN, and negotiations are reportedly underway between both sides on an extension beyond 2028.

According to Front Office Sports, “finalization of a new contract wasn’t imminent” but both parties were in discussion on a “long-term” contract extension.

The news comes after McAfee’s announcement that he is partnering with DraftKings, the official sportsbook partner of ESPN.

It’s no wonder The Worldwide Leader in Sports is making is keen to retain McAfee’s services long-term. Since retiring from the NFL in 2017, the sports media personality has proven to be a huge draw and ratings hit, particularly among a younger demographic.

“We were up 34% year-over-year in the 18-to-24 demo,” ESPN’s president of Burke Magnus told Front Office Sports last year.

“That just doesn’t happen in our business without something remarkable. To me, that’s the appeal of Pat. I have kids who are 23 and 25. He’s the guy. He’s the voice of their generation and their fandom. He represents them. He’s the guy like Chris Berman was for me.”

Pat McAfee’s status as ESPN golden child continues to go from strength to strength, and the network has increasingly turned to him in times of need.

During their NFL free agency coverage last year, ESPN decided to move McAfee’s show over to ESPN2 while it produced it’s own special programming, including a special edition of SportsCenter, to cover what’s traditionally known as the ‘legal tampering’ period of free agency.

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This year, however, the network had McAfee front and center from his Thunderdome studio in Indianapolis to anchor its NFL free agency coverage on Monday 9 March.

The eponymous host interviewed the likes of Peter Schrager, Dan Orlovsky and plenty of other ESPN personalities while the top free agents negotiated contracts for the 2026 NFL season.

Not only that, but last week he announced that his show will be debuting an impromptu “State of the Union of sorts” with a whole host of important guests and league commissioners.

The former NFL punter and kickoff specialist revealed that the New York Knicks’ four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs had left an unexpected void in ESPN’s programming schedule.

McAfee was asked to plug that one-off gap.

McAfee is also highly regarded in the wrestling world where he regularly appears on WWE programming as an analyst and has been part of multiple storylines across Raw and Smackdown.

However, as if dominating YouTube, sports television and WWE weren’t enough, the retired NFL punter has embarked on a whole new career in recent times.

McAfee is set to have a four-episode arc on Tulsa King, the latest show on Paramount+.

But his biggest Hollywood appearance to date will be starring as a Drill Instructor in the film The Mosquito Bowl.

It follows the football game played between two regiments of Marines at Guadalcanal just after the Pearl Harbour attack.

The movie began filming in Queensland, Australia and has a 2026 release window.