Pat McAfee has heard that a near majority of college football fans don’t particularly like him on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” per a poll conducted by The Athletic, and he had something to say to his detractors and supporters.
The sports personality took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday to respond to the fact that 49% of CFB fans polled don’t like him on “College GameDay.”
“This has been brought to my attention more than a few times over the last few days..” McAfee wrote. “I’ve never been friends with a human that reads The Athletic so I’m not 100% sure what style of human these 3100 folks are but.. HUGE Shahtaht to the 30%.. (expletive) yeah.
“To the 49%, I have some great news... I have heard you all very loud and clear since the beginning of my stint with GameDay. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I have not re-signed a contract with the legendary show. I’m not right for some crowds and the ‘distinguished’ College Football folks are definitely one of those.”
McAfee continued, expressing, among other things how much he has enjoyed working on “GameDay” this college football season.
“Excited to enjoy the rest of this year, that’s shaping up to be a GREAT one, and then see what the future holds,” he wrote.” It’s been an absolute blast and an honor to be at that desk and to work with the fine folks of that family… it’s also been really fun to work 7 days a week for the last 2 football seasons. Nice reminder that I’m still an (expletive) DAWG. The dumbest life of all time shall roll on.. Let’s have a great NFL Sunday. Cheers.”
An ESPN spokesman told The Athletic’s Chris Vannini that McAfee “has been a fantastic addition to the ‘College GameDay’ family and our viewership gains from the past year and a half are evidence of that fact. He’s got a home on the show for as long as he would like.”
Vannini noted, however, that year-over-year comparisons of “College GameDay” show that viewership is down “four percent in 2023,” though those numbers were prior to this past Saturday’s show. When compared to historic viewership numbers, though, “GameDay” is being watched more this year than any year since 2010, other than the 2022 season.