According to a new report from the New York Post, ESPN has emerged as the leading candidate to be the home for Pat McAfee’s daily online show. it is also being said that McAfee is contemplating walking away from $120 million deal with FanDuel.
While no deal has been finalized, sources with knowledge of the situation told The New York Post ESPN is in the lead to bring McAfee on. During his show this past Monday, McAfee said that he was “up to something” which he then went on to say that would be announced in the next ten days. The timeline is the same as Disney Up-fronts, which is scheduled for May 16.
The New York Post further noted that if the deal with ESPN goes through, it would not be surprising at all to see Disney/ESPN officially introduce McAfee at the Up-fronts on May 16.
It is not known as of this writing, how much Disney is willing to pay McAfee, though it is said to be in the range of eight figures per year. There is also said to be some speculation the deal with Disney could potentially less than the $30 million plus per year than he has been he’s currently making with FanDuel.
The report further notes that ESPN executives have said that in recent meetings they would only do a deal with McAfee if it will make them money. Details are still unclear how McAfee would be used by ESPN beyond his daily show and the work he has done on GameDay. The report also states McAfee and his crew will most likely continue the three-hour daily show, which will likely be kept on YouTube, but it is also possible that a an hour-long format, could be produced to air on ESPN as placing it on linear TV would make it more feasible for the numbers to add up.
McAfee has reportedly talked about reducing the behind-the-scenes work that running your own company and show entails. He has also said have held talks with all the major players in the market, including Amazon, and he is known to be a bit unpredictable. He also has done alternative college football broadcasts for ESPN in conjunction with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions.
McAfee recently became a father. He has also on hiatus from his full-time WWE Friday Night SmackDown commentary role since being hired by ESPN last September to work the sports cable network’s College GameDay. He did make surprise appearances at the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 39 Night One, where he defeated The Miz in an impromptu match.