ESPN is expanding the cast of Monday Night Countdown. And expanding the presence of Pat McAfee.
The four-letter network has announced that the man with a license to let four-letter words fly will be joining the pregame show before the prime-time game that caps each week of NFL action.
The net gain at the desk is one, with McAfee and Jason McCourty offsetting the firing-in-layoff’s-clothing of Ryan Clark.
Also on the Monday night offering will be host Scott Van Pelt, analysts Jason Kelce and Marcus Spears, reporter Michelle Beisener-Buck, and insider Adam Schefter.
The addition of McAfee to Monday Night Countdown is no surprise. With ESPN preparing (if it hasn’t already) to ink McAfee to a global deal worth upwards of $60 million per year, they’ll be looking to get a full return on the Disney shareholders’ investment. Put simply, more money means more McAfee, who has essentially completed his takeover of the network.
It’s fair to wonder what’s next for McAfee, Inc. His chops are exceeded only by his ambition, which has taken him to impressive heights before his 40th birthday. He’s reached this level in large part because he never settles for what he has, and because he’s always obsessing for more. (That’s not a criticism; it’s a recognition of an increasingly obvious reality.)
He wants to be everywhere. At ESPN, he is. The question is when, not whether, he’ll outgrow Bristol. That recent album surely isn’t a one-off vanity project. It’s a testing of the waters to see if he can parlay his massive sports platform into superstardom. Acting is also on the table, with his agent, Ari Emanuel, wanting to turn McAfee into a movie star.
It’s been fascinating to watch. The higher McAfee climbs, the higher he wants to climb. Even if, as he reaches for the next rung, he’s inclined to punch down on anyone who may not find him to be their personal cup of tea — whether because of legitimate, substantive criticisms or due to the fatigue that arises from overexposure.
McAfee seems to genuinely believe he can do it all. Maybe he can. At ESPN, the only remaining frontier would be scoring an assignment to the Monday Night Football booth. And, if he truly wants, he’ll eventually get it.
He surely envisions much more than that beyond ESPN. Music, acting, and then whatever comes next. Behind the everyman facade is a burning desire to get more than whatever he currently has.
Again, it’s not a criticism. It’s the American way. And as 40 becomes 50 becomes 60, it feels inevitable that the punter turned TV star turned pop star turned movie star will eventually set his sights on the seat currently occupied by the guy he was sitting next to at last week’s Patriot Games.
