Pat McAfee holds out on return of beloved College GameDay tradition amid desperate plea to NFL

Pat McAfee is keeping his College GameDay plans under close wraps following a cryptic message at the end of 2025.

McAfee subtly hinted that there was a chance that College GameDay’s popular kicking contest wouldn’t return for the 2026 season.

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As Texas A&M student Austin Roberts missed the $1m kick, McAfee said: “It’ll be our final kick of the season, maybe of the entire series.”

He allowed Roberts one more chance, saying: “One more kick. Final kick of the season. Final kick, maybe, of the field goal kicking contest.”

The field goal contest has become a signature staple of the Saturday morning college football pre-game show, particularly since Lee Corso retired, along with his iconic headgear segment, which McAfee has denied he is going to take over.

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As for the return of the kicking segment, that is still up in the air.

Rece Davis, who hosts the show alongside McAfee, was asked if the kicking contest will return in 2026: “That’s Pat’s domain. You’ll have to ask Pat about that,” he replied.

“We reached out to ESPN PR for an update and were told nothing could be shared at this time and that we’d have to tune in next week to find out. Will we have to wait that long?” Awful Announcing’s Ben Koo wrote.

“Last year, two days before the first week of GameDay, ESPN’s press release shared that the kicking contest was indeed returning for a third year.

“So perhaps we’ll get word before Sept. 6 when the Week 1 GameDay press release hits.”

College GameDay will return on September 5 where McAfee and the crew will be at LSU for the Tigers and Lane Kiffin’s clash against Clemson.

Whether that’s alongside the kicking contest remains to be seen.

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McAfee makes desperate NFL plea after concerning research study

It comes after troubling research compiled by the British Medical Journal went viral during the week and was discussed on McAfee’s titular ESPN show.

The study estimated that 25 percent of former NFL players who died between 2016-21 showed signs of CTE, a degenerative brain condition caused by repeated head trauma.

McAfee used his ever-growing platform to send a direct message to NFL’s insurance partners.

“The fact that there is a plethora of resources at least being presented is good for former players … lifetime medical, that seems like a layup for some NFL insurance partners,” he said.

“I don’t know how that hasn’t happened yet. That feels like a very stupid hill to die on.“

NFL players who are in the league for more than three years get an additional five years of medical, vision and dental insurance after they retire.

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McAfee wants to see this become universal.

“Both the NFLPA and the NFL, every single CBA, have seemingly decided that that is not worthy of a conversation,” he added.

“And I know the NFL expects the NFLPA to do it, and the NFLPA is like, ‘We’ve gotta worry about, you know, what your deal is.’

“NFL, if you looked out for former players and provided insurance, it would be a big baby-face move for former players.”