Pat McAfee brought his alt-cast to “Monday Night Football” for the first time on Oct. 19. “Monday Night Football Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show” debuted on ESPN2 during the San Francisco 49ers’ 23-17 win over the Washington Commanders.
However, the debut drew 351,000 viewers, according to a source cited by The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.
ESPN declined to confirm the figure, “which is not common practice,” Marchand wrote. Some fans read the number as a sign of McAfee fatigue catching up with the former Indianapolis Colts punter.
How Pat McAfee’s Debut Stacked Up Against the Other Alt-Casts
In its Oct. 11 announcement, ESPN said the show would bring “its high-energy, free-flowing commentary and sideline-driven approach” to the NFL.
The announcement placed McAfee behind an end zone with Dan Orlovsky and Darius Butler and put Connor Campbell, Ty Schmit and Tone Digs in a suite inside the stadium.
Commanders-49ers was the first of five “Monday Night Football” editions. After those come a Week 18 Saturday game and a Super Bowl 61 edition on ESPNU on Feb. 14.
Marchand compared the debut with Peyton and Eli Manning’s “ManningCast,” reporting that McAfee’s audience was “around half of what the Mannings have received.”
So did McAfee lose a head-to-head fight with the Mannings? No. The two shows did not air against each other. McAfee’s “Monday Night Football” alt-cast only airs during selected weeks when the “ManningCast” is not airing.
The alt-cast that did air against him was “MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats,” ESPN’s data and analytics show on NFL Network. Monday was its second “Monday Night Football” appearance of the season.
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Sports Business Journal reporter Austin Karp published a breakdown that matched Marchand’s ESPN2 figure, showing McAfee was “actually outdrawn.”
The Next Gen Stats telecast drew 469,000 viewers, 118,000 more than McAfee by Karp’s numbers. The game itself drew 6.688 million viewers on ESPN and 10.312 million on the ABC simulcast.
For comparison, the ManningCast drew 705,000 viewers for its Week 1 Chiefs-Broncos broadcast and 661,000 in Week 2.
NFL Fans See Signs of McAfee Fatigue
One fan wrote, “One can only hope the McAfee experience is coming to a conclusion.”
Another fan suggested that “the oversaturation of McAfee may be finally showing some cracks,” adding, “Like his style in small doses he’s everywhere now.”
McAfee is on ESPN even more this season. He currently also holds a full-time role on “Monday Night Countdown,” the network’s pregame and halftime show.
That comes on top of his central spot on “College GameDay” and the daily afternoon show ESPN licenses from him.
Another fan put it more bluntly: “America has McAfee fatigue. His employer just hasn’t figured it out yet.”
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Another fan joked about what it could mean for the Manning brothers: “They’re gonna kick the Mannings off of ESPN2 in favor of McAfee aren’t they”
For now, ESPN has the two shows sharing the channel.
McAfee’s alt-casts have drawn bigger audiences outside the NFL. ESPN said that since they began in 2022, many editions have averaged over 1 million viewers, and the most-watched drew 2.4 million.
His alt-cast for the College Football Playoff national championship in January drew 1.2 million viewers, according to The Athletic.
His next “Monday Night Football” edition is Nov. 9, when the Buffalo Bills visit the Minnesota Vikings on ESPN2.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.