Pat McAfee rips viral report peddling details of $85M ESPN salary - "He's throwing darts at a board"

Pat McAfee's $85M ESPN swiftly contract took over NFL Twitter this week. Considering his recent move from FanDuel to ESPN, there has been significant chatter about his show and the reduced terms of pay. McAfee's previous contract reportedly earned him $120 million.

However, as fans continued to debate over the pay and the move as a whole, McAfee took to Instagram to shut down rumors about his new contract.

Addressing New York Post reporter Andrew Marchand, McAfee claimed that the current numbers circulating the internet are incorrect:

"None of the numbers that have been reported about the deal I negotiated with ESPN for us have been right..including this one".

Image Credit: Pat McAfee's official Instagram account

McAfee went so far as to call out publications reporting the numbers in question.

"It's Andrew Marchand throwing darts at a dart board and everybody else reporting it as if it's real. Our market was already set, as I knew exactly what we could make if we were to remain independent.. and we take a lot of pride in the fact that we will work our asses off to be worth every single penny and more."

Ending his rant on a positive note, McAfee asked everyone to have a great day after clearing the air.

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What did the false report about Pat McAfee say?

The report claimed McAfee will earn $85 million over five years with ESPN. Considering his $120 million contract with FanDuel, the new deal would technically be a pay cut for McAfee.

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Retaining maximum control on his show, McAfee would earn around $17 million in a year. He would also get a spot as an analyst on College Football GameDay every week.

Furthermore, the report from Andrew Marchand added a statement made by McAfee via Twitter:

“Interesting number. I don’t talk about the business side of it all, the actual numbers and such.”

McAfee apparently added that he would be paying his people while producing the show on his own.

ESPN, his new partners, would then work on the backend while providing them with a new platform.