Pat McAfee likes Rich Eisen and the two get along, but McAfee still has some thoughts about Eisen’s recently announced return to the network, which McAfee now calls home.
“Learned Rich Eisen’s coming back to ESPN,” McAfee said on Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, according to Awful Announcing. “I’m a big fan of Rich. Rich has been very nice to me, very cool to me. He’s going live, noon to 3 Eastern.”
“That’s a good timeslot,” one of McAfee’s producers/co-hosts could be heard saying off-camera, alluding to McAfee’s show airing at the exact same slot.
“That feels very interesting,” McAfee responded. “But also, love Rich Eisen, so I am cool with whatever.
“Noon-to-3 is fascinating, for sure. Is that a message? I don’t know,” he said. “But yeah, cool, whatever. But nonetheless, we’re happy Rich is back.”
One major difference between McAfee’s and Eisen’s situations with ESPN is that McAfee’s show is simulcast on the network’s linear channel, while Eisen’s is set to be exclusive to the streaming service and is likely to land on ESPN Radio.
“You’ve got choices right there,” one of McAfee’s producers said. “This one or this one.”
“I respect it,” McAfee replied. “Just like the NFL Live crew on free agency frenzy day. Hey, counterprogram us, it’s all good. We like it. That’s how we like it. And we have responses as well.”
It’ll be worth monitoring if this is the beginning of a wider fallout between McAfee and the network.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.