The U.S. men’s hockey team kept its celebration going into Monday after beating Canada to secure a historic gold for Team USA.
When the squad returned stateside, it spent the night at E11EVEN, a popular night club in Miami. The party went viral after a rendition of the national anthem broke out to honor the hockey stars.
And while FBI Director Kash Patel wasn’t present at this particular celebration after joining the team in its locker room in Italy, ESPN star Pat McAfee apparently covered the tab for the entire night.
A video first surfaced on Tuesday showing a pre-recorded message from McAfee playing on the E11EVEN video screen, in which McAfee congratulated the team and let them know he was taking care of the bill. New details in the Daily Mail show that McAfee indeed kept his word — to the tune of more than $150,000.
“Thank you for representing the United States of America in such a great way, it was an honor to watch you win, enjoy the hell out of it, tonight all of your drinks are on me,” McAfee said in the recording.
The aftermath of the men’s team’s victory became incredibly politicized. The appearance of Patel, whose travel itinerary has already drawn intense scrutiny as some federal officials reportedly believe Patel is using taxpayer-funded flights for personal leisure, only added to the controversy. The team also visited the White House and appeared at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, creating even more political context around the gold-medal performance.
However, McAfee seemingly chose to fly under the radar with his gift.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.