Say It Ain’t So, Pat: Is McAfee Ending Kicking Contest?

Will Pat McAfee pull the plug on his kicking contest on College GameDay?

Given that the weekly segment has become must-see TV, it’s hard to imagine him or ESPN dropping it. But on Saturday’s show the former Colts punter hinted, not once but twice, that it was the possible end-game for his popular bit.

When McAfee introduced Texas A&M student Austin Roberts prior to the Aggies’ 10-3 loss to Miami in College Station, he noted the freshman’s $1 million kick could be “our final kick of the season, maybe of the entire series.”

Roberts’s first 33-yard field goal attempt at Kyle Field sailed wide right. McAfee graciously gave him another chance, raising the jackpot to $1.5 million. But before Roberts missed his second attempt he dropped another big old hint: “One more kick. Final kick of the season. Final kick, maybe, of the field goal kicking contest.”

There’s no doubt McAfee is one of the most generous, charitable talents on TV. He pays the contest winnings out of his own pocket. This season, he gave away $4.45 million to students and charities ($2.7 million of that from made kicks). Last year, he coughed up almost $1 million. Even when Roberts missed the two kicks, he still donated $500,000 to charity. ESPN says McAfee has given away $6.25 million total to students and charity combined in the three years of the kick contest.

So what’s going on? McAfee is under contract for GameDay for several years, say sources. (He has a separate $17 million-a-year deal to license his eponymous weekday show to ESPN.) In a short time, the Pat McAfee kicking contest has emerged as the natural successor to Lee Corso’s long-running mascot headgear pick. College GameDay just posted its most-watched season ever, growing its audience 23% to 2.7 million average viewers.

Why mess with success by dumping the show’s hottest segment?

“It would make absolutely no business sense. That’s for sure. They had the Corso thing for almost four decades. This is a similar deal. It’s a main attraction for the show,” says one source. “It has a benevolent quality to it because a lot of money goes to charity. So everybody is really proud of that. Now if Pat, all of a sudden, is saying, ‘I’m in the poorhouse because I gave away 2 million bucks,’ well that’s his fucking problem for making bets his ass can’t cash. Still, he gives a lot of money away. It’s a fantastic segment every week.”

But with McAfee, you never know. The next season of College Gameday is eight months away. Anything can happen between now and then. ESPN declined to comment on the future of the segment. But here are three possibilities on what’s happening behind the scenes:   

McAfee’s getting bored: The 38-year-old star is unpredictable, mercurial. He’s notorious for walking away from employers before he finishes his contracts. He sometimes throws a scare into the suits at ESPN with his “diva-like” behavior. Maybe he’s ready to retire the kicking shtick in favor of a new bit. As an entertainer, McAfee knows you always want to leave the crowd wanting more. For now, the kicking contest is fun, surprising television. But will it be in Year 5? Maybe McAfee wants to keep the contest in his back pocket for the day he possibly launches his own version of GameDay to compete with ESPN and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff? That would be cold. But he’s a savvy entrepreneur who sees around corners.

ESPN’s looking for a sponsor: This possibility was put forth by Awful Announcing. It’s a smart one. If Allstate’s going to sponsor field goal nets, surely there’s a deep-pocketed corporate sponsor that would love to slap their brand all over a highly entertaining segment that combines the best of college football, charity, and campus spirit. In which case, McAfee and ESPN would be getting paid, not paying. Allstate’s sponsored “Good Hands” nets are synonymous with college football. Ditto for McAfee’s kicking contest. 

McAfee’s pulling a work: Never forget, McAfee is a sometime pro wrestler and commentator for the WWE. He says plenty of stuff he doesn’t mean. Maybe in Vince McMahon-like fashion, he was just adding to the drama at Kyle Field by telling the audience this could be the final kick. With 104,122 fans screaming their heads off, McAfee entertained a WrestleMania-like crowd. Why not give them a show?

In the end, it could just be McAfee being McAfee. Watching Saturday’s show, I marveled at how he worked the massive crowd at Kyle Field like a barn-storming WWE impresario. McAfee literally had them eating out of the palm of his hand. But should you believe a pro wrestler’s hype? Or take their on-air rants with a grain of salt? The smart money says McAfee’s kicking contest will be back and bigger than ever next season.

As one source says: “Pat was in his element [at Kyle Field]. It was awesome. I can’t see any scenario why that would be the last one. If it were, it would be amazing, because it was the greatest one ever.”