Pat McAfee’s five-year, $85 million deal to have “The Pat McAfee Show” air exclusively on ESPN and ESPN-owned platforms has barely begun and McAfee is already making recruitment pitches to talent. Soon-to-be free agent Shannon Sharpe will be leaving FS1’s “Undisputed” and might be looking for a new home. Would Uncle Shay Shay be a part of the McAfee umbrella?
Uncle Shay Shay And Pat McAfee?
“But Shannon being available… that’s a narrative shifter for a place,” McAfee said during Thursday’s installment of The Pat McAfee Show.”
“That’s a potential massive asset to a platform that maybe wants to launch. … Shannon is going to be in a really good spot here I think and I hope to hell he comes to ESPN,” McAfee said.
“And when I say come to ESPN, we’re not even at ESPN, but we’re going to be there and if Shannon Sharpe is to be there, and you start talking about like what a day could look like, that’s f—king awesome … and I am very excited about it,” he added.
ESPN already airs the popular “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith. Add in McAfee and his audience and what Sharpe could potentially bring in and you’re looking at three of the most powerful personas in sports media right now.
Sharpe and FS1 have reached a buyout agreement and the Hall of Fame tight end’s tenure as co-host with Bayless will come to an end at the end of the NBA Finals. His popular “Club Shay Shay” podcast will also be leaving Fox platforms.
What’s The Beef?
According to reports, Sharpe and Bayless’ relationship was getting more contentious lately, and an insensitive tweet sent by Bayless after Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field sent Sharpe over the edge.
FS1’s Rob Parker and Chris Broussard believe that once Bayless started attacking Sharpe personally on the show, it was the beginning of the end.
“The moment Skip claimed Shannon was ‘jealous’ of Tom Brady, and Shannon took his glasses off, that was the moment they were separated,” Parker said. “Skip even told him to put his glasses back on, and Skip didn’t like that at all… Chris we’ve had our fights on the radio, but you have to be careful to not cross lines. You never want to hurt your partner to the point you hurt the show.”
When you get on television and scream and yell about sports for hours this is what sometimes can happen. Sharpe likely was tired of the disrespect from Bayless and Bayless thinks he is “Undisputed” much the same way Smith is “First Take.”
The bottom line is both of these men get paid a lot of money to bloviate on television, and that appeals to a large segment of sports fans. There is no doubt someone, if it’s not ESPN, will snatch Sharpe up and give him a space to do his thing. The sportsbooks are all into creating original content now and are flush with cash. They could be players here as well.
