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The Pat McAfee Show Has Been ‘Exceptional By Every Metric That Matters’, ESPN Exec Says

“You look at his success on linear and younger audiences, specifically the 18-to-34 demo, and you can’t help but think something special is happening here.”

Jordan Bondurant

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Pat Mcafee at Super Bowl
Courtesy: Front Office Sports

Much has already been said and made ado about Pat McAfee and his likability on ESPN programming recently, but in the eyes of ESPN leadership, he can be a heel in the eyes of viewers as long as he continues to check the important boxes.

Another angle to the McAfee story in recent weeks was a story in The New York Post about him paying Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers for his appearances on The Pat McAfee Show. McAfee himself went on the defensive about compensating the former Green Bay Packers star.

ESPN senior vice president of production Mike Foss told The Washington Post he recognizes that while Rodgers can be viewed as controversial in a lot of ways, Aaron Rodgers Tuesday on McAfee’s show draws in some of the program’s largest audiences.

“He’s a singular football talent and he’s been an incredible contributor to the show, and that’s what he is,” Foss said.

Since McAfee and company arrived on ESPN in September, the network has seen a positive impact on the digital side.

But Foss pointed out that even in the noon-2 window, McAfee has met early expectations.

“It’s been nine weeks, and those nine weeks have been exceptional by every metric that matters,” Foss said. “You look at his success on linear and younger audiences, specifically the 18-to-34 demo, and you can’t help but think something special is happening here.”

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Sports TV News

Josina Anderson Parting Ways with CBS

“I’m amicably moving on to future ventures. I wish all of the talented insiders, anchors, reporters, producers, executives and support staff the best.”

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Josina Anderson
Courtesy: Miikka Skaffari, Getty Images

CBS Senior NFL insider Josina Anderson announced via her X account she has decided to move on from CBS.

“I want to thank the CBS Sports team for my experience and time there,” she wrote. “I’m amicably moving on to future ventures. I wish all of the talented insiders, anchors, reporters, producers, executives and support staff the best.”

Anderson, 45, started at CBS Sports HQ in September 2021. She had parted ways with ESPN in June 2020 after nine years with the network. At ESPN, she was part of the National ESPN Insider team which at the time consisted of Adam Schefter, Chris Mortensen, John Clayton, Ed Werder, Adam Caplan and Field Yates.

No word yet on what Anderson has planned for the future. BSM will keep you posed as soon as more information becomes available.

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NFL Draft Ratings Fall After Strong First Round

ABC was slightly down, but ESPN2’s number is a 15% drop from last year while NFL Network saw a 20% decline.

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Logo for the 2024 NFL Draft

Despite a strong start on Thursday, the second night of the NFL Draft saw a decline in viewership, reaching its lowest Friday audience since 2012 with an average of only 5.1 million viewers. ABC led the way bringing in 2.69 million viewers, followed by ESPN2 at 1.57 million and NFL Network with 793,000. ESPN Deportes adds in another 14,000 for a total that was 9% less than the year before.

ESPN had previously aired part of Day 2 before shifting over to ESPN2, however this year the second day was solely on ESPN2. ESPN carried Game 3 of the NBA playoff series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers. According to Jon Lewis from Sports Media Watch, ABC was slightly down, but ESPN2’s number is a 15% drop from last year while NFL Network saw a 20% decline. Lewis notes the NFL Network number for Friday’s draft coverage was their lowest since 2011.

On Thursday, night one of the NFL Draft had its best viewing audience in three years. According to numbers posted by Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp, ESPN had 5.6 million viewers, while ABC had 4.5 million and the NFL Network and other digital streaming had 1.6 million. Add those numbers to what ESPN Deportes did and it comes out to around 12.1 million. The NFL and Nielsen said that 34.3 million viewers tuned in at some point to watch the first round.

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Report: NBC Could Steal NBA Rights from TNT to the Tune of Around $2.5 Billion Per Year

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A report from the Wall Street Journal says NBC is making an offer around $2.5 billion per year to obtain part of the NBA media rights package. Joel Flint, Amol Sharma and Isabella Simonetti all contributed to the story which says Warner Bros. Discovery is making a “last-ditch effort” for TNT to continue as an NBA partner.

The TNT portion of the current agreement, which expires after next season, is an average of $1.2 billion. ESPN had been paying $1.5 billion and that is expected to increase over $1 billion annually.

Last week, reports surfaced from Puck’s John Ourand that ESPN was nearing completion of their portion of the package and that it would include the NBA Finals staying on ABC. All indications had been there would be more than two partners in the next deal and that it would include a streaming network. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic also reported last week that Amazon Prime Video and the league “have the framework of a deal” and that it would include “significant regular season and postseason games, perhaps even conference finals.”

The WSJ report says NBC’s discussions with the NBA have been about carrying two prime-time games a week. This is important as WBD has matching rights in their current agreement. However, they do not own a broadcast network and therefore could not offer something similar to NBC.

Multiple reports have said any new agreements will be for a period of ten years.

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