Eagle-eye viewers of The Pat McAfee Show may have noticed Adam Schefter’s absence from the program in recent months.
It appears that hasn’t been a coincidence.
A report from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand provides new insight into the behind-the-scenes happenings of McAfee’s current run at the Worldwide Leader. And that includes the news that Schefter has been “essentially banned” since March when he failed to make an appearance at the former All-Pro punter’s request.
According to the report, the incident in question occurred during the NFL’s free agency deadline with McAfee wanting Schefter to appear on his show. The NFL insider, however, was unable to as he was busy appearing on the free agency special that aired on ESPN2, resulting in him having “banished” from The Pat McAfee Show ever since.
Despite the apparent dispute, McAfee Show producer/co-host Ty Schmit has maintained a presence on Schefter’s podcast. Meanwhile, the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport — a previous PMS regular — has made frequent appearances on the program in the time since, even guest-hosting the show from its Indianapolis studio at one point.
Coincidentally or not, ESPN told Marchand that Schefter is expected to make his return to The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, where it would hardly be surprising if Thursday’s report is addressed. Meanwhile, ESPN president of content Burke Magnus praised McAfee’s relationship with the network in a statement to The Athletic (McAfee didn’t return any messages, per Marchand).
“Pat and his show are thriving on ESPN,” the statement reads. “We are very pleased with the partnership. That said, in the nearly three years since Pat has brought his show to our platforms, we’ve continuously seen those out there that are seemingly obsessed with wanting to see Pat fail on ESPN. This rumor is just the latest example of that. Pat and his show continue to break the mold and reach new audiences, and we look forward to the continued success together.”
It’s also worth noting that Schefter was present on McAfee’s program when the WWE Raw announcer famously discussed an unfounded rumor about a 19-year-old Ole Miss freshman’s sex life in late February, although there isn’t any indication that played a role in his effective ban (Schefter didn’t actively participate in the discussion at the time). With Schefter set to make his return on Thursday, it appears whatever issues the two sides had have seen been smoothed over. Still, there will undoubtedly be more attention placed on their interactions moving forward as a result of Thursday’s report.