Pat McAfee Appears To Have Issue With ESPN Announcer Troy Aikman

Originally posted on The Spun | By Chris Rosvoglou | Last updated Apr 1, 2026 2:50 PM ET

Don't look now, but ESPN broadcasters Pat McAfee and Troy Aikman might be at odds.

ESPN added "The Pat McAfee Show" to its programming in the fall of 2023. Since taking his talents over to the Worldwide Leader in Sports, he has welcomed countless of NFL stars onto his show. He also regularly interviews his ESPN colleagues, including Dan Orlovsky, Adam Schefter and Peter Schrager.

Even though Troy Aikman has been part of ESPN's "Monday Night Football" crew since 2022, he's never made an appearance on McAfee's show. The former NFL punter recently opened up about his lack of a relationship with Aikman.

"I don’t know how we are with Troy, I’ll be honest," McAfee said, via the New York Post. "I like him. I was with Joe Buck for a long time... Troy never comes on our show."

McAfee isn't taking things personal, but he did notice that Aikman appeared on Rich Eisen's show once it debuted on ESPN.

"Then Rich Eisen’s first day on ESPN at noon, he’s on the show. Troy always tells us, 'Can’t do it noon. Sorry, it’s impossible.' First day Rich [Eisen] is on, Troy’s like, 'Get me on that phone.'"

Pat McAfee is on the rise.

Though he might not be everyone's cup of tea, McAfee is clearly held in high regard.

A few weeks ago, ESPN had "The Pat McAfee Show" anchor its coverage of the legal tampering window for NFL free agency. That wasn't the case in 2025.

“ESPN NFL people, which is a department, ESPN NFL. They didn’t think we would be able to handle it last year, so they counter-program us on ESPN2,” McAfee said, via Awful Announcing. “They tell us immediately, ‘You’re not allowed to have Schefter, he’s with us,’ all of this. It’s like, OK, we’ll see how this goes for you guys. Murder scene, by the way, not only because we’re on ESPN, which is what everyone has on, but also because we’ve lived this life too, somehow. I know you guys created the game, but we’ve also been in this whole thing? So there were some nice conversations between the last free agency frenzy and the next free agency frenzy, where we’re going to work together. Don’t we think this would be a good idea.”

Whether people like it or not, ESPN sees tremendous value in McAfee's show.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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