ESPN conducted a round of layoffs just weeks after it was revealed that Pat McAfee was negotiating a new contract worth $60 million annually.
Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Karl Ravech, Tom Pelissero, and others have died as a result of this. He discussed the “horrible” firings on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, July 21, 2026 (via Awful Announcing).
McAfee stated:
“We hate any time this happens”. “Obviously this is terrible. We don’t like that. But we are very honored that we are still partnered with ESPN and Disney for the good of sport and the future.”
“OK, OK. Thank you. I feel like you don’t fully understand budgets and where things are coming from, but I do appreciate that,”. “This time, we’re getting blamed as well. Which I guess I can understand, but I mean, there’s billions and billions of dollars in these companies, and hard decisions have to get made. And we don’t like any of them, and we hope we’re an asset to the company going forward.”
Later on, he seemed to refute claims that the layoffs are related to the licensing price for his show. He mentioned that when the network first leased the show, they were “blamed” for layoffs.
