Pat McAfee once explained absence from College GameDay as star host remains unsigned with ESPN: "I'm not right for some crowds"

Pat McAfee has reportedly not yet signed a new contract with ESPN's College GameDay for the upcoming 2024 season. Discussions between ESPN and McAfee, who had signed around $17 million per year deal and been part of the show for the last two seasons, are still ongoing.

McAfee holds a separate contract allowing ESPN to feature his daily show, “The Pat McAfee Show,” on its network and YouTube, per reports. In 2023, McAfee expressed his conflicts with the college football community as an important reason why he hadn't signed a contract at that stage. While taking a dig at The Athletic, McAfee tweeted:

"This has been brought to my attention more than a few times over the last few days. I’ve never been friends with a human that reads The Athletic so I’m not 100% sure what style of human these 3100 folks are but.. HUGE Shahtaht to the 30%.. hell yeah.

"To the 49%, I have some great news... I have heard you all very loud and clear since the beginning of my stint with GameDay. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I have not resigned a contract with the legendary show. I’m not right for some crowds and the 'distinguished' College Football folks are definitely one of those.

"Excited to enjoy the rest of this year, that’s shaping up to be a GREAT one, and then see what the future holds."

The host's presence in the sports arena has not been without controversy. Earlier this month, McAfee publicly apologized to Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark for inappropriate language used during a segment. McAfee quickly retracted his statements on social media:

"I shouldn’t have used 'white b----' as a descriptor of Caitlin Clark," McAfee wrote.

"My intentions when saying it were complimentary just like the entire segment,” he said. “But a lot of folks are saying that it certainly wasn’t at all," he added. "That’s 100% on me and for that I apologize."

With negotiations ongoing, McAfee's future role in the network's programming remains an enticing storyline.

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Pat McAfee's influence outweighs viewership numbers

ESPN sports analyst Pat McAfee.

Last season, Pat McAfee joined the College GameDay panel with long-standing hosts Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit.

However, his contract with ESPN for the upcoming 2024 college football season has not been renewed. Before ESPN, McAfee worked with Barstool Sports and then FanDuel before transitioning his show to YouTube.

According to 'The Atlantic', Pat McAfee's impact exceeds his audience. Although his show airs during a time with low TV viewership, it only gets an average of 332,000 live viewers on its linear broadcast, according to ESPN.

When considering other platforms like ESPN’s YouTube channel and TikTok, its daily audience reaches just under 900,000—much smaller than the viewership for Monday Night Football.

It's uncertain whether McAfee will be part of College GameDay this season. Also, "GameDay" will have a new look this season as Nick Saban, who retired from coaching after last season, joins the panel.