Pat McAfee is about to get paid like a quarterback. The former NFL punter turned media monster is closing in on a contract extension with ESPN that would make him the highest-paid talent in the building by a long shot.
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, ESPN and McAfee are working on a new deal that would pay him more than $60 million per year. The agreement is not officially signed yet, but the framework is in place and the numbers are eye-popping.
For context, McAfee currently earns around $30 million annually under the deal he signed in 2023 when ESPN brought his show in-house. A new contract worth twice that would push him past Stephen A. Smith as the network’s top earner. It would also slot him into the same general financial neighborhood as Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott. A former undrafted punter from West Virginia making quarterback money on television.
ESPN is reportedly looking to expand McAfee’s role as part of the new deal. That could include a bigger presence in the network’s NFL coverage, where he already moonlights on College GameDay and his daily show.
Not everyone at ESPN is thrilled about the McAfee experience. There have been multiple reports about producers and on-air talent who find him difficult to work with, and his show has caused headaches for the network on more than one occasion. Aaron Rodgers using the platform to spread COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories is the obvious example.
None of that matters to the executives writing the checks. McAfee delivers ratings, attention, social media traffic, and crossover appeal to a younger audience that traditional sports television has been losing for years. ESPN has decided he is worth whatever it costs to keep him, and the price tag is going to reflect that decision.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
