Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images
Sep 28, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; ESPN broadcaster Pat McAfee looks on before the game between Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
The biggest story in the sports world on Thursday has nothing to do with anything on the field of play, but rather what’s going on in the ESPN broadcast booth for “Monday Night Football.”
Last Wednesday night, news broke that longtime co-commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman got into a heated discussion after Buck renewed his contract with the network, which seemingly opted to move forward without Aikman.
When Aikman moved to ESPN in 2022, he insisted that Buck come with him. Now it appears that Buck did not extend the same level of loyalty, leading to a brief pregame altercation recently.
The question now becomes who replaces Aikman alongside Buck on the broadcast, and one of the first names mentioned, unsurprisingly, was that of Pat McAfee.
But McAfee insists he won’t be taking the gig.
I’ve already posted that this isn’t real..
There’s Monday Night Football business happening in a very public way..
We’re BIG fans of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman..
I’m not supposed to be in a football booth and there’s never been a conversation about me being in the Monday Night Football booth #PMSLive
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 15, 2026
Pat McAfee Shoots Down Idea Of Joining ‘Monday Night Football’ Broadcast Booth
McAfee, as everybody is well aware, is seemingly anywhere and everywhere on ESPN programming of late. Which makes sense, given the fact that the network recently signed him to a $60 million-a-year contract.
But one place you won’t see him is in the “Monday Night Football” booth.
“I would like to go on the record and say there have been zero conversations about it,” McAfee said on his show Thursday. “There’s ‘Monday Night Football’ contract business happening in a very public way, and we’re big fans of Joe and Troy and the ‘Monday Night Football’ operation.
“There have been efforts to say I am trying to get into the ‘Monday Night Football’ booth as a color commentator or that ESPN is trying to put me in the ‘Monday Night Football’ booth as a color commentator. … I am not supposed to be a color commentator for football. I tried it a couple of times – I hated it, I got bored.”
Fear not, Pat McAfee haters. It appears you’ll be able to keep watching “Monday Night Football” with him. That is, if he has any say in the matter.