With the college football offseason buzzing over coaching futures and media shakeups, the longtime face of College GameDay since 1996—and a key part of both ESPN’s and Amazon’s football coverage—is heading into the final year of his contract. But there was a time when this ex-Ohio State QB was close to walking away from GameDay until Pat McAfee changed his outlook.

Kirk Herbstreit’s contracts with both ESPN and Amazon are set to expire after the 2026–27 football season. However, after joining Amazon’s Thursday Night Football booth in 2022 on a five-year deal, Herbstreit acknowledged in The Athletic interview last September that his ESPN contract also expires after next season.

Even with private jets and first-class logistics, the pace forced some soul-searching.

“I had to look myself in the mirror and be like, can I do all three (jobs)?” he admitted, noting that at one point, dropping GameDay was genuinely on the table. “Pat coming on the show has been a game-changer for me and for the show. He brings a certain level of intensity and energy. Him and I have a great relationship.”

What changed everything was the arrival of Pat McAfee, who joined the full-time GameDay panel in 2022. Alongside host Rece Davis and fellow analysts Desmond Howard and Nick Saban, McAfee brought a fresh energy that Herbstreit credits with reigniting his passion for the show.

Now, there’s renewed enthusiasm. “I’m loving the NFL. I would never want to leave that job on Thursday, and I love GameDay. I would never want to leave that job on Thursday, and I love GameDay. I can’t imagine not sitting in that seat. It’s a dream to have all three of these. I hope to be able to sign an extension at some point with both Amazon and ESPN,” Herbstreit added.

The work has been relentless after taking the role of Thursday Night Football on Amazon. He travels between Nashville, NFL stadiums, College GameDay venues, and ABC’s primetime college showcase every week, sometimes covering more than 4,000 miles in a single run.

While Herbstreit openly credits Pat McAfee for keeping the energy alive on College GameDay, fans are split when it comes to Pat McAfee’s presence on the show.

Fans are divided on Pat McAfee’s GameDay role

Pat McAfee’s journey on College GameDay has shown that he has never been a quiet figure. In 2022, the former NFL punter and media personality made a big splash on the full-time panel with his WWE-style antics and intense rants that could drive a Saturday morning audience into a frenzy. But not everyone is a fan. According to a recent survey by The Athletic, only 31.6% of college football fans say they like him, while almost half (49.5%) are not pleased with his antics.

It’s a divide that has followed McAfee since he first seriously considered stepping away from the show in 2023. Despite the criticism, McAfee certainly left a mark. With seasoned analysts like Nick Saban, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, and Rece Davis, he has brought fresh energy to the program, keeping it lively and drawing in a younger audience.

His trademark field-goal competition, which offers cash prizes to competitors, is much adored. And while some critics grumble about his over-the-top segments, there’s no denying that his style has helped College GameDay set viewership records, averaging 2.7 million viewers per episode in the 2025 season, which is a 22 percent jump from the previous year.

“I say that people vote with their remote controls… so if three straight seasons of record high audiences for @CollegeGameDay (before & after any measurement changes) qualifies as ‘declining support’ then sign me up for more,” ESPN president of content Burke Magnus wrote.

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Even ESPN’s senior vice president, Mike Foss, agreed, “2.7 million people every Saturday feels like a complete sample size, but we could always ask the 500K daily instead.”

Whether fans love him or hate him, he’s impossible to ignore, and College GameDay is all the louder and more thrilling every Saturday with him.