Pat McAfee Pledges Massive Sum for West Virginia’s NIL Collective

During his live show on Friday, Pat McAfee pledged a large sum of money to his alma mater's NIL collective.

Retired Indianapolis Colts player American sports analyst Pat McAfee and family attend a game between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky on Saturday, June 1, 2024, at Grainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. / Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Pat McAfee was good enough in his four seasons as the West Virginia Mountaineers punter that he was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. He would spend eight seasons with the Colts, making two Pro Bowl teams and one All-Pro team.

Since his playing days have been over, McAfee has successfully transitioned into his post-playing days as a sports analyst and media personality. He hosts a very successful show that now airs on ESPN and was working as a commentator for WWE as well.

With football season now upon us, you are going to see a lot more of McAfee on TV. Not only is his show done daily, but he is a member of ESPN’s Weekly College GameDay panel.

While College GameDay will be in Texas Station for the heavyweight matchup between Notre Dame and Texas A&M this weekend, McAfee still found time to head down to Morgantown for his alma mater’s big game against Penn State.

The Pat McAfee Show was shot live on Friday and the enthusiastic host made some headlines with something he revealed during the telecast.

McAfee is pledging $1 million to West Virginia’s NIL collective in the name of him and his teammates that he took the field with when he was playing with the Mountaineers.

“I just want to say thank you for everything you’ve done for this university. Your jersey should have been retired a long time ago,” McAfee said, speaking with West Virginia legend and NIL connoisseur Pat White. “And I think Wren Baker, I think Neal Brown, I think the people in charge right now are at a point where they understand and appreciate everything that you did for this city. What you did for this entire city, program and everything around here will never be forgotten, and thank you for making the trip up on this beautiful Friday.

“Wth that being said, I would like to make an announcement before we wrap up here, I will be donating $1 million to the West Virginia NIL collective. It will not be from my name, it will be for the entire team that I played alongside. It was all of us. I was very lucky to be on a team with you, Pat White. I was very lucky to be on a team with you, Owen Schmitt, Reed Williams, Darius Reynaud. You go through the list of absolute dogs, from front to back, that we had on those teams that changed this entire place.

“From our West Virginia team to this new West Virginia team, we want to say thank you for the hospitality. $1 million bucks. I hope you spend it in the right way, and let’s enjoy the s*** out of a weekend in Morgantown, West Virginia.”

We wanna say thank you to West Virginia..

I will be donating $1M to the West Virginia NIL Collective from the entire team I played alongside..

I was VERY lucky to be on that team and this is from ALL of us #WVUPMSLive pic.twitter.com/nsqPwbVuip

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 30, 2024

That is a very generous gift from McAfee that will help his school continue improving in the NIL landscape. It takes good backing to land some top recruits nowadays and his gift will help the Mountaineers bring in talented players.

Coming off a successful 9-4 campaign last year, some believe that West Virginia is a dark horse in the Big 12 in 2024. The money that McAfee is providing for NIL use may not help the team right now, but it will ensure that positive momentum can be built upon.