One of the main faces of ESPN College GameDay is set to remain on the network for years to come. ESPN has entered talks with Pat McAfee to extend his contract with the company. Despite there being still two years left on his current deal, the company is making this move to ward off competitors, like Netflix.

Per Ryan Glasspeigel at Front Office Sports, McAfee is up for a long-term contract extension. His current deal of $85 million, which involves the licensing of “The Pat McAfee Show” to ESPN, is set to expire in 2028. His show is licensed to air daily on ESPN’s cable channel, the ESPN+ streaming service, and ESPN’s free YouTube channel, from noon to 2 p.m. ET.

The news of the contract extension talks comes after McAfee recently announced his show’s partnership with DraftKings, also the official sportsbook partner of ESPN.

McAfee joined the College GameDay fully during the 2022 season. And ever since, the show’s ratings have soared. Particularly, in the last two seasons, the show has posted record ratings. At the time of his arrival, the company had an idea of what they were getting, and it is safe to say McAfee has delivered beyond expectations. Last September, his show hit a milestone by garnering more than a billion viewers.

“Pat is a proven talent,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in the statement when McAfee arrived. “He and his team have built ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ into one of the most engaging programs in sports and all of media. It’s a destination for athlete interviews and breaking news, and the centerpiece of a growing community of sports fans. We’re honored to bring Pat and the show to ESPN through a multifaceted, multiplatform approach.”

His impact has gone way beyond the Pat McAfee show and the College GameDay. This March, he anchored NFL free agency coverage for the network, alongside Adam Schefter, Peter Schrager, and Dan Orlovsky.

The following month, the former All-Pro NFL punter had his on-site NFL Draft live show, where he featured Schrager and Orlovsky. And away from football, he filled in an NBA conference finals window last week. There, McAfee proved his connection to significant figures across different sports when he booked all major league commissioners, barring Roger Goodell, for a “State of Sports” primetime special with interviews of league commissioners and star athletes.

Despite the talks for a new contract coming early, Front Office Sports reported that “finalization of a new contract wasn’t imminent”. However, the company and the sports media personality have taken the bold step of beginning the talks of a long-term extension early.

Netflix’s foray into sports programs

Pat McAfee left a $120 million deal with FanDuel to sign the ESPN deal in 2023. This shows how desirable the former NFL punter is, should ESPN lose him. Per RealGM, Netflix has been aggressively wooing sports media personalities and bringing them to sign deals lately.

The Netflix deals are not just growing; they come with huge financial benefits for the involved parties. With the Barstool Sports programs, Netflix secured a multi-year, eight-figure annual agreement. SportsBusiness Media revealed that the company, in two years, has assembled a portfolio of live sports rights with a combined value of about $7 billion.

Even with the NFL, Netflix secured a multi-year agreement to exclusively broadcast live NFL games on Christmas Day. With WWE, it is a huge 10-year deal of over $5 billion to exclusively broadcast Monday Night Raw. Notable boxing matches, like Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford and Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson, also streamed on Netflix with huge global viewership. A top show like Pat McAfee’s will surely be on its radar, should there be any slip from ESPN.

However, ESPN is engaging McAfee early enough, long before he runs out of contract. Beyond contract talks, his efforts have been recognized by ESPN president of content Burke Magnus, who reported a 34 percent year-over-year increase in the 18-to-24 demographic last year. Per Front Office Sports, he called McAfee “the voice of their generation and their fandom. He represents them. He’s the guy like Chris Berman was for me.”