PAT MCAFEE ‘ALARMED’ OVER FANS’ RESPONSE TO ESPN MOVE

Pat McAfee didn’t expect the backlash he received “from my own people” after announcing his move from FanDuel to ESPN in a multi-million dollar deal last month.

The titular host of “The Pat McAfee Show” — who is in the second year of a four-year, $120 million contract with FanDuel — is expected to take the show to ESPN in the fall, The Post first reported.

McAfee, during the latest installment of the “SI Media With Jimmy Traina” podcast, opened up about the negative feedback from some of his fans who called him a “sellout” after the news was made public.

“So I didn’t expect it to be as big of a drawback as it was,” McAfee said. “I knew that there would be some people, because there’s probably new fans of the show and new viewers of the show who hadn’t been through these types of situations before with our program, but it was big. You’re right.

“… There were a lot of people that were excited about what this means for the future of things. A lot of people were like, ’Next step, next evolution of the show, this is cool,’ but I did not expect the amount of people that were negative about it before even knowing what it was.

“I know it comes from a place of passion, so I’m honored about it, but it was alarming, Jimmy. It was alarming. I did not expect that many shots to the shins from my own people.”

Former NFL player and host Pat McAfee speaks on radio row ahead of Super Bowl LVII at the Phoenix Convention Center on February 9, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. Getty Images

McAfee went on to explain that he has always vowed his show would not change throughout business practices — adding that he would like viewers to “have a little bit more faith” in the integrity of his program.

“Our show stinks. We know that. We understand that,” McAfee said. “But there’s a lot of people that are incredibly cool and incredibly passionate, and they hang out with us every single afternoon, so I think any change I make, I had to learn through trials and errors, that there’s gonna people that are upset with it because they’re scared they’re gonna lose the thing that they get to hang out with and I am honored that that is how they view our show.

“But my big takeaway after this decision is a lot of our people have been with us for a long time and a lot of the decisions I’ve made, we’ve been through this a couple of different times where it’s like, ‘Hey, the show is gonna remain the show, though, and I would like a little bit more faith in the fact that we understand who we are, we understand what we are and we wouldn’t want to change it for anybody because that would be bad business and it would be bad because we can’t make a better show. We’re a bunch of doofuses that do what we do, and it just so happens to work.”

Pat McAfee speaks during his show on Media Row for the Super Bowl LVI at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 10, 2022 in Los Angeles, California Getty Images

McAfee said he had four other offers, but would not disclose further information.

“Three of the places the money was pretty similar,” he said. “One place way behind. Good people but way low.”

McAfee’s deal with ESPN is for five years and around $85 million, The Post learned.

ESPN declined comment on the figures in the deal.

ESPN’s Pat McAfee during the Georgia Bulldogs game versus the TCU Horned Frogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship game on January 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

McAfee also shared that his show will not add in debates and top-five lists, which has become a regularity in ESPN’s daytime programming.

The new dad — who welcomed his first child, a baby girl, with wife Samantha earlier this month — confirmed to Traina that he will still have non-ESPN insiders on his show when it officially moves to the media giant.

“I’ve never been told I can only have ESPN people on my show,” McAfee said. “That was never even broached by them or by us.”

It’s called journalism.

Apple: https://t.co/ck0BFM8ro8

Spotify: https://t.co/diM3f0ZylZ

YouTube: https://t.co/JOSlIOzg3M pic.twitter.com/rGUWwHCeDo

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 1, 2023

McAfee’s roster of rotating guests includes NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and and FanDuel’s Shams Charania.

As for cursing, which is a normal occurrence on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the host revealed he’s only giving up one word: “F–k.”

McAfee explained that he was the one to suggest about simmering down on the f-word so that the show would not be censored from certain audiences.

The host confirmed that he still plans to use lesser curse words, such as “s–t.”

2023-06-01T19:04:14Z dg43tfdfdgfd