Pat McAfee is the most famous (former) punter in the world. Since retiring from the NFL in 2018, McAfee has quickly become one of the biggest names in sports media thanks to the runaway success of his daily radio show, The Pat McAfee Show. Last year, he landed a four-year, $120 million contract with FanDuel, making the sports betting titan the official odds provider partner for The Pat McAfee Show. Even as McAfee's show finds itself at the center of the sports universe thanks to weekly guest appearances from Aaron Rodgers, its host might be moving on to bigger and better things: according to the New York Post's media columnist Andrew Marchand, “it is in play” that McAfee could walk away from his mega deal with FanDuel.
““[There are] a lot of moving pieces right now,” McAfee said in a direct message to Marchand. “Not exactly sure where it all ends up. No beef, all love with FD (and you.) Just trying to make my show and life easier. I’ll have a lot more info and direction late next week probably.”
Over the last few weeks, McAfee has quietly been dropping breadcrumbs hinting at a potential exit from FanDuel. Most notably, he dropped the FanDuel logo from his show's Youtube simulcast and was absent from FanDuel's Kick of Destiny Super Bowl commercial campaign despite being a natural fit for it as a former NFL punter and leading FanDuel personality.
Additionally, McAfee has several obligations beyond his FanDuel pact. Outside of his daily radio show, McAfee regularly appears across WWE programming for Fox and has a multi-year deal with ESPN, appearing as a weekly analyst on College Gameday and hosting a “Manningcast” style broadcast of college football games as part of ESPN's partnership with Peyton Mannings' Omaha Productions.
Similarly, McAfee has a history of abruptly leaving deals early, dating back to his NFL days when he retired with away two years remaining on his contract with the Colts. Prior to joining FanDuel, McAfee walked away from deals DAZN, Barstool Sports, Westwood One and SiriusXM.
If he leaves FanDuel, McAfee could land at Amazon or Google/Youtube, both of whom have television deals with the NFL.
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