The Josh Innes Show - More McAfee

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

ESPN has made it a point to make give run Pat McAfee into the ground. How much money does he generate for ESPN? How many eyeballs does he actually bring? Also, Jilly interrupts to ask if we can take Ross to the zoo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. Great news, everyone. You get more Pat McAfee on the TV.

Boy, I bet you're all excited, aren't you? Nothing more exciting than Pat McAfee and more Pat McAfee on TV. It is possible to say no, I would think. Now, I would imagine part of his deal is, like if ESPN comes to you and goes, hey, we need you on TV, then you're on TV. The thing is, and I mean this sincerely,

because I have nothing against Pat. McAfee. I don't think Pat McAfee adds much to anything because I can't recall anything interesting or insightful that has been said by Pat McAfee on any of these shows.

So the lineup on Monday night countdown Scott Van Pelt, Jason Kelsey, Marcus Spears, and Jason McCordy. God, Kelsey and fucking McAfee. It's like, they're like, listen, guys, here's what we want to do.

We want this thing to give off like testicles hanging from the back of your truck vibes. So here you are. Here's Kelsey and fucking Pat McAfee. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of

cancer. Register today at pmcf walk.ca.cai. But that's the news of the day is that McAfee is going to be on that. Per the athletics, Andrew Marshand, in addition to McAfee's role on countdown, he's expected to be a large part of ESPN Super Bowl coverage next February. McAfee will continue roles hosting his weekday show at noon east and be the centerpiece of college game day on Saturday. Like, here's a, and I mean this wholeheartedly. I don't mean this to be a dick. I don't say this as someone who's trying to be an asshole about it. I legitimately need the answer.

I'd like to know what tangible benefit, what financial benefit there is, like, or eyeball benefit, what ratings information, what financial information we have, as to the impact that guys like McAfee. or guys like Stephen A. Smith have on the network. Because obviously they have to feel like these guys are valuable in some way. And the most important way to be valuable is they generate revenue because they cost a shitload of money. So they better generate revenue. And if that's the case, like ESPN would know greater than I would. They have the data. But is there any real way of knowing that paying somebody, you know, $60 million a year or whatever it is that Pat McAfee gets paid?

Is there any way of truly knowing that Pat McAfee is actually just, generating what you're paying him? Like, is he producing a return for you that is on the level of what you're paying him? That would be my question. And I question that about a lot of people, right? Because, like, if Pat McAfee weren't on ESPN, would ESPN survive? Yeah. If Stephen A. Smith was not part of ESPN, would ESPN survive?

And the answer is yes. And you don't want to downplay the significance of talents. because you're downplaying yourself at that point. You're saying basically the people on the air are not as big as the brand itself. But I would like to know, like, what is Pat McAfee bringing to ESPN that makes him worth that cash? And I'm not saying that to be an asshole.

I'm saying that because I legitimately don't know. And this is the kind of question I would ask of anybody that's in a business like that. Like, if this were the type of business we're in and the business of show that we're in, like that would be my main question and I would ask that of anybody and that question would be you know what are you bringing in terms of revenue that's changing the game you know like I work in radio right it's easy to dump somebody who's a radio guy to fire somebody who's a radio guy if they're making more than they're generating right like and you can tell that like you know

what kind of money is attached to somebody you know what kind of money they're making you know how many advertisers they're bringing in. Like to give you an example, and I think Michael Barry is a great example of this, like somebody like Michael Barry in Houston. Michael is a super big time revenue generator for IHeart media. And I don't know how much they pay him. I know he's his own boss, like he owns his own shit and all that. But, and he pays the people that work for him, like his producers and Jim and all those guys.

They're not employees of IHeart. They're employees of Michael Barry. So obviously Michael Barry generates a shit ton of cash. Like that's not breaking news here. Michael Barry is a big time moneymaker for Iheart, for everybody. Like he generates cash for these people. There is a great tangible benefit in having Michael Barry on the radio because Michael Barry brings in the do re-mey. Right.

So and I've talked to people about this. I know this answer. Like I know that I've been told that he generates millions of dollars. for iHeart. So with that said, I know that if they lost Michael Berry, they'd be losing a lot of cash because those people who are listening to Michael Barry are not listening to Michael Barry

or not listening to KTRH or whatever station Michael Barry's on because of that station. They're listening to that show because they like Michael Barry. And if Michael Barry went away, Michael Barry would probably be able to bring his sponsors and his audience over to another radio station. He's got that level of power. And Pat McAfee's got that level of power in his own world.

Like in his YouTube universe, that show that he does on YouTube, the Pat McAfee show that he generates all the revenue for and makes all the money for, that's that. But as far as ESPN goes, like if we're talking about studio shows, we're talking about, you know, being an analyst on the Super Bowl. Like, what benefit does ESPN have and how much money do they make from that? and what does it mean to the bottom line to have Pat McAfee on NFL countdown or Monday countdown or the Super Bowl? That's the question I'm trying to get the answer to. I don't believe there's any real benefit in having the Kelsey's on because, like, yes, the Kelsey's have a big podcast and Jason Kelsey's on a big podcast. Jason Kelsey doesn't bring eyeballs to a TV unless you're a meathead in Philadelphia or unless you're a Swifty that otherwise wouldn't have interest in football. but there's no one who's like, holy shit, Jason Kelsey's on TV, we got to watch.

He's got a podcast. The podcast has a shit ton of listeners because of Taylor Swift, and that's that. Like, he never really created his own sandbox. He's a football player that was doing like a podcast. Taylor Swift starts banging her brother. They get married, and it becomes a $1 billion podcast, right? Pat McAfee built a podcast. Pat McAfee made a world, and ESPN wanted to get in that world.

What I want to know, and it's the same way I feel about. Stern on XM, where they keep paying Stern to be on XM. What exactly is Stern generating that makes him worth $100 million? There's no fucking way that somebody on XM is doing that much and generating that much money in terms of people that are buying subscriptions. I can't fathom it. I ask this about XM all the time. What is XM doing to stay alive?

They keep giving big contracts to people. yet I don't know any human that's out there subscribing to XM. Like we used to have XM, then you realize you don't fucking need it. Like let's say you had XM because you wanted to listen to baseball games, right? You don't need it. All you have to do is listen to baseball games, spend $10 a month on your app and listen to baseball games. You can listen to the NFL on your phone for $10. Like, what exactly is XM doing to make money?

And what exactly is, hey, we pay Andy Cohen to be on XM and we, We pay Howard Stern to be on XM. Like, what are those people doing to generate the money that makes them worth the money they're getting paid? And by the way, that's in any business. That's in any walk of life you're in. Are you generating more for your employer than you are costing them? And I don't know, like, I don't know how many people are turning on, you know, non-Pat McAfee show programming on ESPN and saying,

I must watch because McAfee is part of this. And it's not just a McAfee thing. It's an anybody thing. You're like when you've got your own podcast and you can look at the data that shows what you're generating, like in what kind of audience numbers you're getting, you know they're watching because of you or what you're talking about. Like you know that it's either they like you

or they like the niche that you're discussing, right? Nitches make riches in podcasting, right? So you know that, like let's look at a guy like Josh Pate, who has a podcast. He's like a big college football guy. Now he's in bed with ESPN, and he's on TV with bussing with the boys now. He built his own sandbox of being this college football dude with Pate State and the Josh Pate Football Show and all that shit. Okay, cool.

My question is not about whether or not he's got value in his own world because he does. That audience likes him, and they're going to him because they like the niche of college football, which is all he talks about. And they like him. They had to find him and choose to stay with him. And you know the numbers that you're getting there are legit for him because, or they legitimately are there to watch him because they like him. Will Josh Pate help generate numbers? Like, will he bring that audience over to ESPN? Well, somebody who's not a Josh Pate person, go to ESPN and watch a show that Josh Pate is on because of Josh Pate.

Will Josh Pate bring eyeballs? There's like one dude who I think or one brand. that brings eyeballs, and I don't think it's Pat McAfee. Now, if you're watching the Pat McAfee show on ESPN, I think you bring the eyeballs. But I don't believe that Pat McAfee is bringing eyeballs to NFL countdown. I do believe that Dave Portnoy, I do believe that his brand and bar stool do bring eyeballs, whether it's because of controversy, whatever it is. They bring eyeballs in.

And I think that Dave Portnoy is a more interesting person than Pat McAfee. I think what stands out when I compare the two is I believe that Portnoy has a more, has a point of view. And you could argue whether or not someone who's doing sports media should have a point of view on quote unquote important things or whatever. But he's got a point of view. I don't believe Pat McAfee has a point of view on anything. That's the issue I have. Like he's just there.

He just kind of exists. He doesn't have a point of view on anything. He doesn't really have anything to add to any conversation. He plays dumb on a lot of shit about political stuff, yet he wants to dip his toe in the political shit, but doesn't full on commit himself to the political shit. At least you know where Dave Portnoy is. He's got a point of view and people want to know what he has to say about shit because he has that point of view. Do I want to buy Ross dog tickets for the zoo? Yeah, sure.

How much are dog tickets for the zoo? So it's $60 for us all to go to the zoo to take Ross to the zoo. And it's just that's $60 all in for all of us to go to the zoo. I'm in the middle of giving hot takes on fucking McAfee and all this shit. Okay. Well, why wouldn't I? Let's go see if let's go to the zoo. It's kind of ridiculous.

When is it? What does he get to do? How do they get to bring animals to the zoo? Well, I'm talking about Pat McAfee. Oh, Jesus. So explain to me how the animal, like, how can you bring an animal to a zoo where there's animals? That doesn't make any sense. Take your dog to the zoo.

Okay, that's fine. It doesn't give me information about what they're going to do with the zoo. Like, so is he going to be face to face? You're like with a fucking giraffe or something? All right, we'll buy the tickets. We're going to the zoo. Taking Ross to the goddamn zoo. Do you still like Pat McAfee?

I like his show. Jilly likes Pat McAfee's show. She likes his actual show. Well, good. Now we know. We've gotten to the bottom of all this. And we're taking Ross to the zoo. I know you need to work.

I'll finish up. So Ross gets to go to the zoo. That's an exciting time. By the way, I didn't get in on this damn game because I was podcasting. And now there's like, you know, runs being scored, runs galore. now in extra innings. Look, now, by the way, it should have been a much bigger inning for Arizona, but it wasn't. But Arizona scored two runs.

So if you would have gotten in at 11 and a half in the ninth inning, you'd already be hitting the over. And life would be good for you. But what are you going to do? But all that to say, I don't know what these guys actually generate in terms of eyeballs. I don't know how many people really give a shit that they're on there. I don't know. I have no clue. I think Dave Portnoy is a more valuable human than Mac.

First of all, McAfee was a creation of Barstool. Like, you want to know the real kingmaker? ESPN's not really a kingmaker anymore. He knows a kingmaker. Dave Portnoy. He's the kingmaker. And people tune in because he's got a point of view. He's got an opinion.

He's got a point of view. Like, the thing about McAfee, and look, there's nothing wrong with just being kind of fluff and, like, fart jokes and shit. Like, I'm not going to rip you for that. That's fine. But in this era to be a guy that just has no point of view on anything and plays kind of dumb on a lot of shit. And I say he plays dumb, plays kind of ignorant on it. And then we'll dip his toe into the politics, but then act like he's not political.

Then we'll sit there and yuck it up with A. Raj, but then act like he's not political. Hang out with Trump and then pretend he's not political. So whatever. All right. More to come. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research.

Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcf walk.ca.ca. Thank you.