Ever since signing Pat McAfee earlier this year, ESPN has looked for creative ways to utilize their new signature star.
On Saturday, the “Worldwide Leader” will take another swing, with the former All-Pro punter hosting an NFL RedZone-style college football whip-around show alongside Rece Davis.
The show — CFB Primetime with The Pat McAfee Show — will air on ESPN2 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. It will be hosted from McAfee’s Indianapolis-based “ThunderDome” studio and include rotating coverage of ESPN’s slate of primetime games, including Iowa State vs. No. 22 Kansas, No. 24 USC vs. No. 5 Washington, Rice vs. SMU, Mississippi State vs. Kentucky, North Carolina State vs. Miami and UTEP vs. Western Kentucky.
“Rece Davis will be with us here in the ThunderDome for our next MegaCast simulcast on Saturday night,” McAfee said during Wednesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show. “That’ll be a take on RedZone. It’ll be a college football frenzy.
“Basically, every game that’s happening on Saturday evening, we will be cutting in and out of whenever things heat up. Now, if it’s a little bit dry and if games get a little cold, boom, we’ll hit some highlights from earlier in the day. So what I’m thinking that Saturday night is going to be, hosted by the incomparable Rece Davis, is everything you need to know from the college football day that was and the primetime games that are happening. That’s the vision.”
We will be LIVE from the ThunderDome doing a Primetime College Football take on RedZone Saturday night..@ReceDavis will be joining us and we CAN'T WAIT for it #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/u6GVhavb31
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 1, 2023
Previously this season, McAfee has provided alternate commentary from the sideline of games, including the highly anticipated matchup between Alabama and Texas. Experimenting with a RedZone-style show makes a lot of sense, especially following the success of ESPN’s Frozen Frenzy NHL coverage last month. The addition of Davis also provides the program with a seasoned broadcaster who should allow McAfee to be maximum McAfee.
It will be interesting to see how the show fares with two of college football’s biggest primetime games this weekend — No. 8 Alabama vs. No. 14 LSU and No. 3 Michigan vs. Purdue — airing on non-ESPN platforms. But based on the reaction to the announcement, there clearly appears to be a demand for the product, which could prove to be an ideal vehicle for ESPN’s McAfee movement.
[ESPN]
