Report: Pat McAfee pays Aaron Rodgers, Nick Saban millions for interviews

Pat McAfee has become one of the bigger personalities in sports media over the past few years. With the spotlight on him these days, it appears to be money well spent according to the latest report regarding his show.

According to the New York Post, two of ‘The Pat McAfee Show’s’ biggest guests, Jets QB Aaron Rodgers and Alabama’s Nick Saban, are both receiving money for their weekly appearances on the program. The report suggests that both are receiving around $1,000,000 per year for their interviews on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“Rodgers is receiving more than seven figures per year to come on the show each week, according to sources, while Saban is in that vaunted neighborhood,” Andrew Marchand wrote.

“McAfee is media savvy. He cuts into his five-year deal for around $85 million from ESPN to pay people that help the business,” continued Marchand. “He confirmed that Rodgers’ spots are paid for but didn’t get into the exact amount per year. ‘Aaron has made over $1,000,000 with us, for sure’, McAfee told The Post over direct message.”

As Marchand wrote and noted, this isn’t McAfee’s newest employer, ESPN, dumping millions into their newest brand. This is McAfee recirculating his deal with the network, which, over five years, will pay him $85 million, to generate content that will make their content both bigger and better.

Some might not see it as the most honorable practice for what some might see as paying for interviews. Still, McAfee has marched to the beat of his own drum for some time now and, with it very clearly working for him and his cast, it will likely continue to be a significant piece of their puzzle moving forward.

McAfee drops f-bomb on ESPN while discussing Rodgers’ injury

Pat McAfee promised his fans that his team’s move to ESPN wouldn’t change much and, so far, it hasn’t. The former Indianapolis Colts punter dropped an f-bomb that went uncensored on ESPN on Tuesday while sharing his reaction to Aaron Rodgers‘ season-ending injury.

Rodgers is a friend and frequent guest on the Pat McAfee Show so the injury’s impact had ripple effects on them as well.

“I was holding out optimism until (Robert) Saleh comes up to the thing, ‘Yeah, he popped his Achilles, we’re f-----.’ That is basically what Saleh said when he came up to the podium,” McAfee said. “It was at that point that all of us, I don’t want to sound too dramatic but I had a hard time sleeping last night, I had a tough time enjoying that game last night.”

McAfee exited his four-year, $120 million deal with FanDuel to make the jump to ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports’. He managed to retain full creative control over the show, though he admitted there will be less f-bombs going forward.

“We ain’t changing a damn thing,” McAfee said after the news of the move broke. “That was literally the starter for every conversation with everybody this up to something season.”