Pat McAfee’s stunning rise through the ranks of the sports media world has come with a new sponsorship agreement with FanDuel, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The four-year contract (with an opt-out after three years, in the finest traditions of MLB contracts these days) was called a “massive deal” by Rapoport.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1468992588392894473
Just how massive, you ask? The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported it at $30 million *per year*.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1468993067365638155
In a video announcing the new deal, McAfee confirmed the length of the contract (though he didn’t confirm its value), and also announced various six figure donations to charity, bonuses to staff, and gifts for his parents.
This is so much money. For the record, McAfee made just over $15 million during his eight year NFL career. He retired from the league after the 2016 season and joined Barstool Sports, leaving the company near the end of the summer of 2018. He’s had a variety of roles in the media world since, doing work for Fox Sports, ESPN, Westwood One, WWE, and the XFL, but the Pat McAfee Show has been his bread and butter. Its popularity and success resulted in this massive investment from FanDuel, further proving you don’t need a major network partner to sign huge sponsorship agreements.
I wonder what Michael Wilbon thinks about all of this, given his comments about McAfee following his retirement….
On @PTI, @RealMikeWilbon rips @PatMcAfeeShow for walking away from the NFL & following comedy/media passion with @barstoolsports. Terrible. pic.twitter.com/XVIDieMoaX
— Mark J. Burns (@markjburns88) February 3, 2017
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.