A longtime ESPN personality has made it clear where he stands on ESPN hiring Pat McAfee.
McAfee’s deal with ESPN is said to be for four years and $85 million.
Pat McAfee’s ESPN contract is reportedly worth $85 million over five years https://t.co/e1pCWvlv6S
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 31, 2023
Mike Greenberg, one of ESPN’s most popular and senior stars, went on the “Front Office Sports Today” podcast to share his thoughts.
“When we first started putting (McAfee) on, I was warned by a lot of people, ‘Hey, Greeny, you got to be careful. You know, he sometimes goes over the line.’ And I thought, ‘Yes, but he strikes me as a person who’s smart enough to know where the line is. And he’ll go right to that line.’ He knows the line where he is, is very different from the line where I work and he’ll know not to go over it. And he killed it on our show. Am I proud of it? Yes, I’m delighted.”
Greenberg continued,
“I love it (and) I love McAfee,” he told Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports. “I had been hearing about him from people in the earliest days of ‘Get Up’ (but) I hadn’t seen much. Then I remember I was traveling back from the [2019] Draft in Nashville, and I saw him when he came out to announce (the Indianapolis Colts) pick. He turned legendary that day.
“I remember watching it and thinking, ‘This is different. Like there are a million loud-mouthed, foul-mouthed, smart-aleck talk show guys. There’s something very different about this one.’ There’s an obvious intelligence; almost genius. It was evident to me immediately, just watching that. And so I personally reached out to him that day.”
Despite some ESPN employees being reportedly “angry” over the hiring, it seems that Pat McAfee has Mike Greenberg’s good graces.
McAfee was a 2-time Pro Bowl punter for the Indianapolis Colts before setting his sights on sports media following his retirement. Since then, McAfee has become a star, most notably with Barstool Sports before launching “The Pat McAfee Show.”
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