Pat McAfee’s first ESPN ‘Monday Night Football’ alt-cast draws weak audience
Pat McAfee’s first ESPN “Monday Night Football’ alt-cast for the Commanders-49ers Week 6 game was outdrawn by his peers and NFL Network.
The “Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show” alt-cast on ESPN2, which includes NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky, only drew 351,000 viewers on Monday, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.
NFL Network’s “Next Gen Stats” broadcast outdrew McAfee with 469,000 viewers, per Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal.
The “ManningCast” with Peyton and Eli Manning, which was ESPN’s first-ever “MNF” alt-cast in 2021, was off in Week 6. ESPN has plans for McAfee’s alt-cast to air whenever the ManningCast if off throughout this season.
The former quarterback greats pulled in over 700,000 viewers in Week 1. The “ManningCast” averaged over a million viewers in its inaugural year.
The Commanders-49ers “MNF” broadcast delivered 17.9 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes and NFL+, ESPN shared in a press release.
The network did not disclose its alt-cast viewership.
McAfee is set to host five more “MNF” regular-season alt-casts this season, with the next one in Week 9 for Bills-Vikings.
NFL Network is also scheduled to air its “Next Gen Stats” alt-cast in Week 9.
McAfee’s “Field Pass” alt-cast will go up against the “Next Gen Stats” alt-cast for Super Bowl 2027.
The Mannings are scheduled to analyze 12 games this season, as well as Super Bowl 2027.
The Athletic previously reported McAfee would likely host “MNF” alt-casts when the Manning brothers are off.
ESPN announced McAfee as a panelist on “Monday Night Countdown” in August.
McAfee’s alt-casts and “MNF” role were part of his contract negotiations with ESPN on a deal that could pay him in the range of $60 million to $65 million annually, per The Athletic.
McAfee’s alt-cast previously appeared on numerous college football broadcasts before its “MNF” debut.
McAfee’s highest performing alt-cast for the Ohio State-Oregon game on New Year’s Day in 2025 brought in 2.4 million viewers, according to The Athletic.
ESPN launched its plans for a Star Wars animated alt-cast at Super Bowl 2027 — which will be shown on the network Feb. 14 — on Monday night.
McAfee brought his daily talk show to ESPN’s daytime lineup in 2023, after he joined the cast of “College GameDay” in 2022.
He signed a five-year, $85 million deal with the network in 2023.
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