Pat McAfee Reportedly Pays Aaron Rodgers For Exclusive Interviews

Pat McAfee signed a lucrative deal with ESPN and has become one of the largest personalities on the network, and the retired NFL punter seems to be putting his money into large investments.

McAfee is one of the hosts of "College GameDay," and he's also the host of the "Pat McAfee Show," which became the home for important interviews in the sports world.

"Aaron Rodgers Tuesday'' and "Nick Saban Thursday" are prime weekly segments on the show. It's where Rodgers revealed his intention to sign with the New York Jets, and it's where Saban can open up more than his postgame news conferences.

To his credit, McAfee sets a laid-back tone for nearly all of his interviews on his show, which is why people feel like they can open up. But for Rodgers and Saban, there appears to be more in it for them.

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"McAfee spends millions to procure these interviews," Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported Thursday. "Rodgers is receiving more than seven figures per year to come on the show each week, according to sources, while Saban is in that vaunted neighborhood.

"McAfee is media savvy. He cuts into his five-year deal for around $85 million from ESPN to pay people that help the business. He confirmed that Rodgers' spots are paid for, but didn't get into the exact amount per year."

McAfee told The Post: "Aaron has made over $1,000,000 with us, for sure."

McAfee is free to do what he wants with his money and paying people for exclusive interviews is not a new phenomenon in media, but it does mean ESPN has to toe the line when Rodgers brings up presidential candidate and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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Rodgers continued his "Mr. Pfizer" bit with Travis Kelce this week and joked that he and Kennedy would debate Kelce and former U.S. presidential chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci over vaccines.

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro instituted a "no politics" policy in 2018, but that certainly wasn't the case when Rodgers hyped up a person who believes COVID-19 targets certain races and vaccines cause autism -- statements that have little to no evidence backing them.

Again, paying athletes or coaches for "exclusive" interviews is not new. Marchand highlighted how Aaron Boone, Joe Torre and Eli Manning were paid for their weekly radio and podcast appearances.

But the "Pat McAfee Show's" ascension from YouTube to ESPN's airwaves came after ESPN laid off multiple employees last summer, including high-profile names like Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Steve Young and Suzy Kolber.

ESPN knew what it wanted when it brought McAfee on, and the company will have to deal with any backlash that comes when Rodgers brings up non-football topics -- though there seems to be less vocal backlash compared to the people who complained the NFL was talking about Taylor Swift too much.