Pat McAfee Receives Backlash As ESPN Fires Top Personalities Months After Signing McAfee To Massive $85 Million Deal

Pat McAfee isn’t a very popular person on social media today.

Two months ago, McAfee signed a lucrative 5-year $85 million to move his YouTube show to ESPN and work full-time for the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” despite the fact the company announced they were going to be making drastic layoffs.

Via Andrew Marchand of the NY Post

Pat McAfee’s deal with ESPN is for five years and around $85 million, The Post has learned.

With the contract, beginning this fall, the next chapter of the “The Pat McAfee Show” will air on weekday sports television’s most powerful platforms. It will be on ESPN’s cable channel, on ESPN’s free YouTube channel and on its direct-to-consumer streaming service, ESPN+.

For its $17 million, ESPN will receive 230 fully produced shows a year that it can sell advertising against.

On Friday, ESPN announced its latest wave of brutal layoffs that included several high-profile names such as Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber, Jalen Rose, Steve Young, Keyshawn Johnson, and Max Kellerman.

According to the NY Post, ESPN believes it will make money with McAfee’s contract and save money with the layoffs.

Via NY Post

The hope is by cutting those making in excess of seven figures per year, ESPN would be able to save more behind-the-scenes people.

It will still spend when it sees fit as in the case of Pat McAfee, whom the network recently inked to a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $85 million for his show that begins in the fall on ESPN.

ESPN executives believe McAfee’s deal will make the network money from Day 1.

McAfee’s name began trending on social media on Friday as sports fans blamed him for the layoffs.