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ESPN superstar Pat McAfee was a welcome addition for many viewers when he joined the desk on College GameDay last season so it came as a bit of a shock when reports surfaced suggesting McAfee wouldn’t return this upcoming season and “remains unsigned” with the network.
The report came from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, one of the most trusted Sports Entertainment industry reporters, who basically never misses with his reports. But ESPN’s President of Content, Burke Magnus, addressed Marchand’s report in a new interview and expressed his belief that Pat McAfee will appear on College GameDay this upcoming season.
In an interview with Richard Deitsch in The Athletic, Deitsch asked ESPN’s Burke Magnus “Will Pat McAfee be on ‘College GameDay’ this season?”
Burke’s answer was:
Yeah, I presume he will. What Andrew (Marchand) reported is technically true relative to ink on a piece of paper. But as you know in our world, it’s a fairly common situation to have reached an agreement without an executed contract or piece of paper.
I think from time to time Pat likes to just muse on what he may or may not want to do. We’re not in the business of handcuffing anybody to a table. This is not unique to Pat. If somebody comes to us and says, ‘Hey, I’d rather do this or that instead of that,’ we’ll listen and have those conversations. But Pat I expect to be there on ‘College GameDay.’
For the network’s President of Content to say “I expect him to be there” it seems pretty, pretty likely that Pat McAfee will appear on College GameDay in the upcoming season, right?
His comments are interesting though, saying “Pat likes to just muse on what he may or may not want to do.” It alludes to McAfee having free reign in a way that might make things difficult for the network. McAfee has in the past taken shots at ESPN colleagues and many wonder how committed ESPN is to their guy.
Burke Magnus also addressed that, saying “I often read or hear things on podcasts where the sentiment is, ‘(Is) ESPN committed to Pat McAfee?’ We absolutely are.” He went on to say “I can say this with great authority, having kids that are 25 and 22 and are enormous sports fans. He is the voice of the younger generation from a sports fan perspective.”
Those are pretty powerful comments from the ESPN President of Content. It sounds like they are 100% committed to Pat McAfee, to getting him on College GameDay this season, and aren’t at all bothered by the Aaron Rodgers drama or Pat beefing with other ESPN personalities.