Pat McAfee likes Rich Eisen.
He may have even played a role in helping bring the former SportsCenter star back to ESPN.
But when it came to the news that Eisen is taking his eponymous daily show to the Worldwide Leader’s direct-to-consumer streaming service this fall, McAfee admittedly has some questions. Especially considering that both of their shows air at the exact same time.
“Learned Rich Eisen’s coming back to ESPN,” McAfee said on Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show. “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, obviously alluding to PMS airing at the exact same time
“That feels very interesting,” McAfee admitted. “But also, love Rich Eisen, so I am cool with whatever.”
While that may be the case, the former All-Pro punter and his co-hosts continued to linger on the reality of his and Eisen’s shared timeslot for a few more minutes. Although he remained upbeat and complimentary of Eisen, McAfee also questioned whether there’s anything he should be reading into the situation.
“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 of the key differences — at least for now — in McAfee and Eisen’s agreements with ESPN is that McAfee’s show is simulcast on the network’s linear channel, while it appears Eisen’s will be exclusive to the streaming service and seems likely to land on ESPN Radio, although that doesn’t seem to be finalized as of yet. When asked if PMS will also be a part of ESPN’s streaming service (which will merely be called “ESPN”), McAfee said he thought it would be but wasn’t sure, before once again referencing his and Eisen’s overlap.
“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.”
McAfee’s tone vacillated between humorous and passive aggressive, but it seemed clear he feels some type of way about the Eisen situation. And although he insinuated he played a role in helping reunite the longtime NFL personality with the Worldwide Leader, he also spent much of the segment casting a jaundiced eye at their respective shows remaining in a shared timeslot.
It’s also worth noting that news of Eisen’s return came just hours after McAfee authored a cryptic social media post, which he ended with the hashtag #UpToSomethingSZN. And while it may be too early to connect the two stories, his comments regarding Eisen’s return now puts his relationship with ESPN under the microscope heading into one of the most transformational periods in the company’s history.