Pat McAfee leaves FanDuel for massive deal with ESPN

ESPN is officially "For the Brand." Pat McAfee will sign a new deal with the broadcaster after opting out of a four-year pact with FanDuel last year, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.

McAfee already works with ESPN. He joined the "College GameDay" team last fall, has been on several studio shows and contributed to programming from the production company of former teammate and Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. This new arrangement is for "The Pat McAfee Show," which he's hosted on YouTube for several years. While he's the face of the show, the deal means that he may bring his co-hosts along, including former NFL linebacker A.J. Hawk.

After his 2018 departure from Barstool Sports, where he began his national media career, McAfee began to take more control of his content, launching podcasts and live radio on SiriusXM, partnering with DAZN and eventually FanDuel, where he signed a four-year, $120 million deal just two years ago. 

One of the interesting comments from Marchand's report relates to control over the YouTube show's content:

It is expected to remain on YouTube in some form, but one or two hours of it could be on ESPN, where the network would more likely be able to make the math of McAfee’s deal work.

ESPN executives had vowed to only do a deal if they thought it would make money for the company.

When The Post reported last week that ESPN had emerged as the favorites for his services, McAfee said on his show that he is too dumb to change in response to some of his fans’ concerns about Mickey Mouse sanitizing the language and the vibe of McAfee and his crew.

It's not clear if ESPN will enact a swear jar for McAfee and his team, though his prior work with both ESPN and WWE has shown that he can avoid dropping expletives. Yet what has long enamored McAfee to his fans is not the potty mouth, but that he acts very much like a fan at the game. He brings unabashed passion about sports even as a former professional athlete, even if it can feel like he's going overboard at times.

It's been a fascinating time of sorts for the former Indianapolis Colts punter. Days ago, he announced that Brett Favre dropped a defamation suit filed against him related to the Packers legend's alleged involvement in the misappropriation of welfare funds in Mississippi. More importantly, his wife gave birth to a baby girl in early May, and now he's landed a new media deal.