The Problem With Pat Macafee

In the article, “The Problem with Pat McAfee”, Avery Nelson dives deep into why he believes Pat McAfee is more of an entertainer rather than a journalist. The talk show host has a resume of his own, having a long career in the NFL as a punter for the and transitioning to talk show hosts for shows on ESPN, and even a commentator for WWE. Though he has quite the big resume in Nelson’s words, “…McAfee the journalist sums up everything wrong with sports journalism today (Pg1 Par1).”

Throughout the writing Nelson explains ESPN has began to fire more journalists due to a decline in views and revenue, mainly due to the rise in social media. When all of this was happening the network decided to create a new show in hopes to change things around, “The Pat McAfee Show”. Not only that, McAfee ended up signing a huge deal with ESPN for 85 million dollars. With a deal like that comes sacrifice, ESPN laid off twenty of their workers. Some including big name stars that have been on television for many years.

Though Avery can be biased throughout the article, he has a few valid points. Due to the numbers going down ESPN decided to take a risk and sign big names like Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe, Cam Newton, and lose the workers who have been loyal to the network. Though they have made those risks, guys like McAfee are the big names that keep ESPN going. He has produced the second highest numbers on the network behind First Take. Is McAfee really bad at being a journalist, or is Avery still out with the new and still with the old?

The problem with Pat McAfee