This week, it was announced by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post that Pat McAfee will be leaving his lucrative deal with FanDuel to join ESPN. Although McAfee has one of the most popular football shows on the internet and signed a $120 million deal with the sportsbook this year, he’s decided to make a change. McAfee recently became a father and wants to reduce his workload.
As the sole owner of his company, he does a lot of the work himself, including production. With ESPN, he will have the benefit of a team to help with these tasks. While his expected yearly salary at ESPN will be less than $30 million, it will cover production costs, salaries, and other expenses. Additionally, being on ESPN will increase his audience and reach 74 million homes and various other locations.
Via Joe Pompliano Twitter:
“But this is where ESPN comes in. Pat and his wife, Samantha, recently had their first child, and McAfee has frequently mentioned his desire to scale back his workload.
This is because McAfee still handles many things that network talent wouldn’t typically have to deal with. For example, when I went on his show last year, Pat DM’d me on Twitter himself to book it and even spent time going back and forth on topics.
Now, he’s hired some great people to help with ad sales, operations, and production. But when you’re the sole owner of a business, there’s never really a day off.”
Overall, the move seems like a good decision for McAfee.
