Pat McAfee Confirms Report of Move to ESPN

McAfee discussed what’s to come following his show’s move to the sports media giant.

The Pat McAfee Show is officially headed to ESPN. 

McAfee himself confirmed as much Tuesday at the start of his eponymous program, sharing with his audience what the future of the show is going to be like after agreeing to a deal with the sports media giant.

McAfee made clear that there will be no major changes coming to the program amid its move to ESPN. 

“We ain’t changing a damn thing,” said McAfee after jokingly starting the announcement with over a minute of faux content changes. “That was literally the starter for every conversation with everybody this Up To Something Season.” 

Hello beautiful people...

We appreciate and love you all.. together we've truly changed the game.

🗣🗣 #UpToSomethingSZN UPDATE: pic.twitter.com/Yv8SpyNH0E

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 16, 2023

McAfee revealed that the show will remain on YouTube, though it will have a new home on ESPN’s channel. Additionally, at the same time, it will air on ESPN and ESPN+. 

“What I discovered in these negotiations … is that our show is what a lot of these suit folk are viewing as ‘the future’ of daily sports talk. … A few years back, none of these networks would even give me a meeting. Now, we’re the tip of the spear of what sports media needs to be in its next chapter,” said McAfee.

Though McAfee indicated there won’t be significant changes coming to the content on the program and he’ll still have full creative control, he did clarify that one specific word will not be making the move to ESPN with the rest of the crew.

“We have decided that we won’t be saying “f–k” nearly as much, but every other word is good to go,” said McAfee, citing his respect for ESPN. 

McAfee reportedly walked away from the four-year, $120 million deal he signed with FanDuel in order to bring his show to ESPN.