Last month, Disney’s ESPN enacted a painful round of cuts that shocked the industry. While many of the layoffs were tied to the network’s integration of NFL Network, the dismissals also hit recognizable on-air talent and personalities that had been mainstays at the sports media giant. In the time since, a grim mood has lingered around the network’s Bristol headquarters, Status has learned, with one person describing it as a “ghost town.”

Some of that can surely be chalked up to the usual summer slowdown. But employees remain anxious about the network’s future and their own job security, I’m told, as the sports media industry undergoes profound change. “People are really on edge because of the state of the business,” the person said, questioning “where ESPN’s North Star is.”

Pat McAfee, on the other hand, declared himself the “luckiest man on Earth” on Wednesday, after ESPN announced another expansion of his already considerable presence at the network. “I hope I can be an asset as we start the journey to The Biggest Super Bowl of all time in LA on ESPN and ABC,” he posted on X.

Starting this season, McAfee will join the roster of panelists for ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown,” the network’s NFL pregame show, expanding his presence, which already includes his role on “College GameDay” and his weekday talk show. That’s not all. ESPN is exploring an alternative “Monday Night Football” broadcast featuring McAfee, as reported by The Athletic. I’m told ESPN is actively exploring the concept, though it would need league approval, which hasn’t been granted yet.

McAfee’s expanding footprint, of course, comes with considerable baggage. To name just some of it, his show has become a regular platform for Aaron Rodgers' conspiratorial anti-vaccine diatribes and attacks on public health officials, including a recent tirade against Dr. Anthony Fauci. McAfee’s own proximity to Donald Trump—most recently appearing with the president at a sporting event—has only added to the political scrutiny.

McAfee also has a history of using his platform in wildly irresponsible ways, perhaps most notoriously when he gossiped on-air about an 18-year-old student’s sex life, touching off a wave of harassment at the college freshman by fanning the flames of a false rumor. “You’re ruining my life by talking about it on your show for nothing but attention, but here I am staying up until 5 in the morning, every night, throwing up, not eating because I’m so anxious about what’s going to happen for the rest of my life,” the student said at the time. But McAfee only apologized months later.

In another incident, McAfee described WNBA player Caitlin Clark as a “white bitch”—another remark he was forced to apologize for. McAfee has also clashed with the broader sports media, famously calling sports journalists “miserable pricks” and “curmudgeon bums.” He once described the renowned sports journalist Andrew Marchand as a “rat” for an accurate report on his program.

McAfee’s rants are not limited to public health officials, college students, or members of the media. He has also gone after those inside the ESPN tent, once ripping a prominent network executive, Norby Williamson, for supposedly trying to “sabotage” his show. Not too long after the attack, Williamson opted to depart the network.

Still, McAfee’s expanded role was perhaps expected, as the network has steadily increased his presence across its programming over the last few years. Meanwhile, ESPN, McAfee, and his in-house production team have been negotiating a new, monster licensing agreement reportedly worth between $60 million and $65 million. The arrangement is largely a production deal, according to a person familiar with the talks, who noted that McAfee’s company produces his show and pays its staff and production costs.

Taken together, the developments reveal where ESPN is placing its bets—even if they also raise questions about what the network is supposed to represent. At the same time it is doubling—or perhaps tripling or quadrupling—down on one of its biggest stars, it is working through the anxious aftermath of cuts elsewhere, prompting scrutiny over where the network sees its future. In any case, the contrast is hard to miss. ESPN spent the summer laying off reporters, then opted to elevate the one personality who has a long history of trashing reporters.

In a network press release last week announcing the return of the full “College GameDay” cast for its 40th season, McAfee was front and center in the accompanying marketing image, sandwiched between coaching icon Nick Saban and host Rece Davis.

That is the crux of ESPN’s bet. Whether directly correlated to McAfee’s presence or not, “College GameDay” saw its most-watched regular season ever last year, averaging 2.7 million viewers, a 22% bump year over year, with the season racking up nine of the most-watched regular-season episodes ever. The series also saw notable growth among viewers under 25, a selling point to potential advertisers. During the 2021 season, the year before McAfee joined, “College GameDay” averaged 1.88 million viewers.

ESPN executives have viewed “College GameDay’s” success as proof of concept for McAfee’s addition, with particular interest in securing a younger demographic as sports media grows increasingly saturated with seemingly endless independent offerings. McAfee can’t take sole credit for “GameDay’s” growth, particularly amid booming interest in football more broadly. But a person familiar with ESPN’s thinking suggested the network sees a positive impact of his presence on the show. Given those results, the person said, it was natural for the network to experiment with whether McAfee could bring similar engagement to its NFL pregame coverage.

It also probably doesn’t hurt that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is known to be a fan of McAfee’s and has appeared on his show multiple times.

Of course, not everyone inside ESPN is thrilled by McAfee’s increased presence on the network. “People always talk about it like, ‘We got to make room for Pat,’” one staffer told Status—a line that was mostly said in jest until recent cuts were made, with McAfee’s expansion to NFL coverage following soon after. The remark suggests that even if ESPN has denied that the recent cuts and McAfee’s ascension are connected, plenty of people inside Bristol are drawing the line themselves. A network spokesperson did not provide comment for this story.

That unease has a public-facing counterpart from influential alums, including Linda Cohn, who spent 34 years as a SportsCenter anchor. She warned of “McAfee fatigue.” But Cohn argued that it’s nothing new for the network’s executives, who she said have played favorites with on-air talent. “The viewers can speak up, say they don’t like it. But ESPN, most of the time, turns a deaf ear,” she said.

ESPN, for its part, views criticism from former employees like Cohn as lacking the context of the network’s current internal decision-making, I’m told. The network rejects the notion that McAfee’s growing footprint is particularly unusual, pointing to other personalities including Scott Van Pelt, Mike Greenberg, and Malika Andrews, who appear across multiple shows. But other high-profile talent aren’t inking licensing deals worth tens of millions of dollars. Nor have they used their perch to irresponsibly platform vaccine conspiracies, feud publicly with network executives, or smear journalists.

With Disney indicating it may enact additional cost-cutting measures under chief Josh D’Amaro’s leadership, rumors of further cuts have circulated among staffers. I’m told that ESPN has no plans for additional layoffs through the end of the month, but beyond that, the outlook is far less certain.

[Data via Box Office Mojo]