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Pat McAfee’s stock continues to soar at ESPN.
The sports media giant announced Wednesday that McAfee will join the cast of the venerable Monday Night Countdown studio show this season.
It’s the latest addition to McAfee’s growing ESPN programming portfolio. The former NFL punter hosts his own eponymous weekday show, co-stars on College GameDay, and frequently hosts “Field Pass” for major college football games televised on ESPN platforms.
McAfee and Jason McCourty will join returning MNC cast members Scott Van Pelt (host), Jason Kelce and Marcus Spears (analysts), Adam Schefter (Insider), and Michelle Beisner-Buck (features). As ESPN continues to integrate NFL Network talent, former Super Bowl quarterback Kurt Warner will contribute select segments through the season. McAfee and McCourty are replacing Ryan Clark, who was let go in a recent round of layoffs, on the show.
It’s all part of ESPN fine-tuning its NFL talent lineup for its first-ever Super Bowl telecast. The Worldwide Leader will simulcast Super Bowl LXI from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Feb. 14, 2027. At ESPN’s Bristol campus, there’s a countdown clock ticking off the minutes and seconds for its “Year of the Super Bowl.”
As Front Office Sports previously reported, McAfee is expected to host his own Field Pass version of Super Bowl LXI, while the network will also air a separate ManningCast starring Peyton and Eli Manning.
Originally debuting as NFL Prime Monday in 1993, the 33-year-old MNC was renamed in 1998 to match its Sunday NFL Countdown sister show. ESPN officially took over the Monday Night Football package from its sister Disney network, ABC, in 2006.
ESPN’s MNF team of Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, Lisa Salters, and Laura Rutledge will return to action with the network’s telecast of Chiefs-Broncos on Sept. 14. This will be Aikman and Buck’s 25th season on-air together between ESPN and Fox Sports. In February, they’ll be on the call for their seventh Super Bowl broadcast.
