Pat McAfee defends himself after ESPN layoffs

For critics of Pat McAfee, the news of a sizable round of layoffs across ESPN and Disney this week was a perfect opportunity to hammer the star host.

After all, the cuts came just weeks after news surfaced that McAfee was in talks with the Worldwide Leader on a new contract worth as much as $60 million annually. The contract would include licensing rights for The Pat McAfee Show as well as McAfee’s role as talent on College GameDay.

Addressing the layoffs — which included fellow football commentators like Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Tom Pelissero, and Charles Davis among others — on-air Tuesday, McAfee sidestepped the blame he said he often receives when ESPN makes staffing cuts.

“We hate any time this happens. Obviously this is terrible. We don’t like that,” McAfee said. “But we are very honored that we are still partnered with ESPN and Disney for the good of sport and the future.”

Later, McAfee more directly argued against the idea that his and his show’s licensing fee comes at the expense of others.

“The first time we licensed the show through ESPN, one of these happened, we got blamed,” McAfee said.

“OK, OK. Thank you. I feel like you don’t fully understand budgets and where things are coming from, but I do appreciate that. This time, we’re getting blamed as well. Which I guess I can understand, but I mean, there’s billions and billions of dollars in these companies, and hard decisions have to get made. And we don’t like any of them, and we hope we’re an asset to the company going forward.”

At a time when ESPN’s overall subscriber base and audience, particularly for daytime programming, is dwindling, Stephen A. Smith (who makes $20 million per year from the company) and McAfee help ESPN limit the bleeding. To keep their paychecks, ESPN must outbid the market. The theory that a smaller ESPN, in 2026, could continue to draw equivalent viewership and engagement by spreading its talent budget across many more less-popular hosts is unproven. The bigger issue is that many of ESPN’s competitors in traditional sports media have died off, leaving a barren market and few options for laid-off talent.

More likely, critics of McAfee see this as a fresh opportunity to hit him. It’s true that McAfee has different editorial standards than his contemporaries and has different ideas about professionalism than the rest of corporate media. However, the effect of an ESPN minus McAfee is likely less about putting more money in others’ pockets and more about an ESPN that is downsizing.

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