ESPN's “The Pat McAfee Show” was a disaster.
ESPN has spent years trying to separate itself from purely political and non-sports topics. There were also notes and suspensions to keep him focused on the sport. The network has also updated its company philosophy.
The current slogan adopted by the network, which once considered itself a “world leader in sports,” is “Serving Sports Fans.” anytime. anywhere. “
On Tuesday, as the NFL world was shocked by the firing of Titans coach Mike Vrabel, ESPN aired an hour of Aaron Rodgers talking about his feud with Jimmy Kimmel and talking about Dr. Anthony Fauci and COVID-19. He reflected on his feelings towards. He criticized the ESPN executives in charge of McAfee's programming, referring to an ESPN executive whom McAfee had called a “rat” and badmouthed.
Well, it's probably a good thing that ESPN has dropped the nickname “World Leader in Sports.”
In reality, McAfee is supposed to serve young sports fans. He was brought in because he is one of the most high profile people in the media. He has talent, but he has a lot of talent.
He seems to be very loyal to those close to him, but there's still not much evidence that he wants to be a good teammate for ESPN.
In his desire to never change and remain completely true to himself, he has completely thrown Disney CEO Bob Iger, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, and ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus under the rug. . Iger, Pitaro, and Magnus had already given McAfee the key to getting them back.
McAfee's five-year deal worth more than $85 million allowed him to retain ownership of the program and license it to ESPN. This gives McAfee full authority in the relationship. ESPN pays him a salary, but he is not an employee. McAfee isn't stupid.
Rodgers' corner turned into a fight in the middle school lunchroom. To review: Rodgers furious after ABC's Kimmel teased him about Rodgers' stance on COVID-19 vaccine, Kimmel doesn't want Jeffrey Epstein's list made public, Rodgers counters did.
Then I wrote a column about how bad McAfee's ratings on TV have been so far, which caused McAfee to call Pitarou and Norby Williamson, who reports to Magnus, “rats,” and for some reason watch He reasoned that he was the only person in the world who had rate information. .
ESPN released a statement this weekend saying everything will be handled internally. On Monday afternoon, McAfee immediately addressed the matter on air and said he would not do anything different. On Monday night, Kimmel went on a lengthy rant about Rodgers on ABC's show.
Finally, on Tuesday, Rodgers went on and on about the coronavirus, Epstein, the media and Kimmel, criticizing Mike Foss, the ESPN executive who runs McAfee's show.
Foss had said that Rodgers' comments about Kimmel were “stupid and factually incorrect” and that Rodgers had to respond.
Did you understand everything? Hey, is that the fifth hour bell?
Entering its fifth month and only 55 more shows scheduled, ESPN has a lot of problems to fix with this show (I'm still going to take it as far as it goes). Despite the fact that ESPN issued a press release aggregating McAfee's numbers, rolling a ton of apples and oranges into one, the show still continues to be the first to watch Stephen A. Smith's “Take” loses nearly half of its lead-in viewers every day. , has increased slightly recently.
McAfee may be the only one who can fix this problem, but it doesn't seem like he's in a hurry.
He has repeatedly praised Iger, Pitaro and Magnus. And who wouldn't love a trio that handed them a check for more than $85 million?
The relationship has grown over the years, starting with McAfee's first run on “College GameDay.” ESPN executives were wide-eyed about McAfee's move, but need more evaluation. The mistake may have been that ESPN put the internet, including Rodgers and all his theories, on TV.
McAfee spoke about Vrabel before and after Rodgers' appearance. To be fair, if Rodgers wasn't out, McAfee probably would have done a pretty good job with the big NFL stories. But die-hard ESPN watchers may be hoping for a more easily understood and structured program.
One of the jobs of any network or platform is for viewers to know what they're going to get. At this point, ESPN should be congratulating Pitaro and Magnus for making a move that puts them in a very good position for the future, both in the long and short term. The ratings for the college football semifinals and championship and the NFL's two upcoming playoff games should be the only statements coming out of PR. ESPN should focus on this.
They should be serving sports fans, not dysfunctional.
