Stephen A. Smith is no longer the clear face of ESPN. While the “First Take” star certainly has been one of the clear faces of ESPN for a while, there’s an obvious new top-dog at the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
It’s Pat McAfee.
On Wednesday, ESPN announced that McAfee will be joining “Monday Night Countdown.” That’s arguably ESPN’s biggest product at the moment – the NFL and live games. ESPN will have the Super Bowl this year. ESPN has made it clear that it wants McAfee to be a big part of its Super Bowl coverage.
McAfee will join the “Monday Night Countdown” crew this fall. He’s very excited to get started.
“Tis an honor to be a part of MNF in any capacity. I hope I can be an asset as we start the journey to The Biggest Super Bowl of all time in LA on ESPN and ABC College GameDay on Saturday.. Monday Night Countdown on Monday.. I’m the luckiest man on Earth. Football has been so good to me and my family.. I will try my best to continue to give back to it. We started this show in the basement.. no agent.. no publicist.. no manager.. no PR firm.. just a love of sport and it’s people. So thankful for it all and for all of you who have followed along with this absurdly dumb life. The Fall Football Tour starts in Baton Rouge on September 5th.. Let’s GOOOOO,” he shared on X.
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McAfee also has his daily show aired live on ESPN each afternoon. He takes part in “College GameDay” each and every Saturday morning, too.
The former NFL punter is now front and center on ESPN’s two biggest properties – “Monday Night Football” and “College GameDay.”
McAfee is clearly now employee No. 1 at ESPN.
McAfee replaces Stephen A. Smith as face of ESPN
ESPN is looking to pay McAfee in a big way, too.
“ESPN and McAfee are in discussions to renew his current agreement with the network for around $60 million a year, sources confirm to OutKick,” Bobby Burack reported.
“Smith’s waning influence inside ESPN is perhaps best demonstrated by his inability to retain his preferred co-stars. For four straight offseasons, he has fought to keep at least one of Michael Irvin, Shannon Sharpe and Ryan Clark. ESPN let each of them go. It was also McAfee, not Smith, whom ESPN tapped to host a live alternative broadcast from Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden in June. More importantly, McAfee embodies ESPN’s newfound direction. Smith does not.”
It’s McAfee’s world at ESPN and we’re all just living in it.
