The Pat McAfee Show
Live weekday sports talk show hosted by former Colts punter Pat McAfee with AJ Hawk, Darius Butler and a table of friends, made by his own company in Indianapolis and licensed to ESPN since September 2023.
Sports talk show · 5 creators in the index · Updated Nov 9, 2026
The Pat McAfee Show is a weekday sports talk show hosted by former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, known for long, live NFL and college football talk, big-name guests and the table of friends its podcast calls the Toxic Table. It began in 2017 as a podcast with Barstool Sports, relaunched on its own as “The Pat McAfee Show 2.0” on September 4, 2018, and has aired on ESPN since September 7, 2023, under a licensing deal the New York Post reported at $85 million over five years. As of November 2026 the table is McAfee with AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Boston Connor, Ty Schmit and Tone Digz, and none of them has announced a departure. It airs from noon to 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and runs a third hour on YouTube and ESPN+, mostly from its ThunderDome studio in Indianapolis, with Monday shows from that week’s Monday Night Football stadium in the 2026 season. Front Office Sports reported in February 2026 that the show had its most watched year on ESPN, averaging 436,000 viewers across TV and digital, and in June 2026 The Athletic reported that McAfee and ESPN were negotiating an extension worth $60 million to $65 million a year.
Pat McAfee Show cast, past and present
The host and co-hosts at the table, plus a former in-studio regular. Roles and years come from the show’s own podcast notes, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and each linked entry. Status is as of November 2026. Ages are from Famous Birthdays.
| Name | Role on the show | With the show | Status (November 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pat McAfee, 39 | Host and founder; owner through Pat McAfee Inc. | 2017 to now | Hosts weekdays from the ThunderDome and on the road; also on College GameDay and Monday Night Countdown |
| AJ Hawk, 42 | Co-host; former Green Bay Packers linebacker and Super Bowl XLV champion | By November 2018 to now; the notes then called him Pat’s former podcast co-host | Current. Named in the notes every weekday from November 2 to November 9, 2026; on some days the notes have placed him in Ohio while the crew is in Indianapolis |
| Darius Butler, 40 | Co-host; McAfee’s former Colts teammate; runs the Everything DB segment | Guest from February 2019; regular since 2020 | Current. Opened the November 9, 2026 show with McAfee and Hawk at U.S. Bank Stadium |
| Boston Connor (Connor Campbell) | Producer turned on-air regular; the table’s Patriots fan | By February 2019 to now | Current. Named a co-host by the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the August 6, 2026 show; no departure announced |
| Ty Schmit | Producer and co-host; plays Fake Lou Holtz and Mad Mel Kiper | 2017 to now; joined as an intern | Current. Named a co-host by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August 2026; no departure announced |
| Tone Digz (Anthony DiGuilio) | Co-host; betting and college football voice behind Tone’s Above Average Poll | By September 2018 to now | Current. Guests reacted to his poll in the notes through November 3, 2026 |
| Adam “Pacman” Jones | In-studio regular, billed “LIVE In The ThunderDome” in episode titles | March 2023 to March 2024 | No longer billed in studio; back as a guest in January and February 2025 |
Ages: Pat McAfee born May 2, 1987, AJ Hawk born January 6, 1984, and Darius Butler born March 18, 1986, per Famous Birthdays (McAfee, Hawk, Butler). Boston Connor’s real name is as printed by Awful Announcing; Tone Digz’s as printed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Weekly segments and regular guests (fall 2026)
The recurring pieces of the week, from the show’s podcast notes for October and November 2026.
| Segment | Who | Usual day | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overreaction Monday | The cast, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Dan Orlovsky | Monday | From the Monday Night Football site in the 2026 season, such as U.S. Bank Stadium on November 9 |
| Rece Davis and Tone’s Above Average Poll | College GameDay host Rece Davis, reacting to Tone Digz’s ranking | Tuesday | Weekly in the college football season |
| Everything DB | Darius Butler | Wednesday | The week’s best defensive back plays |
| Watt Wednesday | JJ Watt | Wednesday | Running since at least December 2023 |
| In the Trenches | AQ Shipley | Wednesday | The week’s best offensive line play |
| What The Chuck? | Coach Chuck Pagano | Thursday | Plays that leave everyone scratching their heads, before Thursday Night Football picks |
| Nick Saban | Nick Saban | Friday | Previews the weekend’s big college game; Friday shows also carry the week’s NFL picks |
Guests rotate with the news; Ian Rapoport, Shams Charania and Kirk Herbstreit also appear most weeks in the fall 2026 notes.
Timeline
- 2017Pat McAfee launches his podcast with Barstool Sports, which also airs on SiriusXM’s Barstool channel, per the Pro Football Hall of Fame; the show’s YouTube channel dates to August 23, 2017.
- Sep 4, 2018After leaving Barstool, McAfee relaunches the show as “The Pat McAfee Show 2.0,” an episode the notes say covered “his exit from Barstool Sports.”
- Sep 9, 2019The show becomes a daily live program on Westwood One radio, starting in 40 markets, with a video simulcast on DAZN, per The Hollywood Reporter and the show’s notes.
- Sep 2020The show moves to SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern while streaming on YouTube, per the New York Post.
- Dec 2021FanDuel signs a four-year, $120 million deal with the show, per Awful Announcing and the New York Post.
- Aug 29, 2022McAfee tells the New York Post that SiriusXM “never made an offer to continue our partnership,” ending the show’s satellite radio run.
- Sep 19, 2022The show goes “officially LIVE from The ThunderDome,” its own studio, per the episode notes.
- Feb 9, 2023Brett Favre sues McAfee for defamation over remarks on the show, per ESPN; the suit is withdrawn in May 2023 with no settlement paid, McAfee said, per CNN.
- May 31, 2023The New York Post reports McAfee’s ESPN deal at $85 million over five years, about $17 million a year for 230 shows plus College GameDay, per Awful Announcing.
- Sep 7, 2023The show premieres on ESPN at noon Eastern, two hours on ESPN and a third on ESPN+ and YouTube, per Awful Announcing; the episode title reads “First Day On ESPN.”
- Jan 3, 2024McAfee apologizes on air after Aaron Rodgers suggested on the January 2 show that Jimmy Kimmel could be named in Jeffrey Epstein documents, per TMZ.
- Feb 2026Front Office Sports reports the show’s most watched year on ESPN, an average of 436,000 viewers across TV and digital, up 8%.
- Jun 1, 2026The show announces DraftKings as a partner, and Front Office Sports reports McAfee and ESPN are in early talks on a long-term extension.
- Jun 9, 2026The Athletic reports the sides are negotiating $60 million to $65 million a year, per Awful Announcing.
- Aug 19, 2026ESPN adds McAfee to Monday Night Countdown and starts its Monday game-site programming with the show from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern, per Awful Announcing.
- Nov 9, 2026The show broadcasts Overreaction Monday live from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis with Darius Butler and AJ Hawk, episode 1662 in the podcast feed.
Questions people ask
What is The Pat McAfee Show? What makes it different?
The Pat McAfee Show is a live weekday sports talk show on ESPN hosted by former Colts punter Pat McAfee, mixing NFL and college football news with long interviews, running bits and a table of co-hosts. ESPN’s bio of McAfee says the show is made by his own crew at Pat McAfee Inc. in a studio compound called the ThunderDome in Indianapolis, and that he is the primary owner of its intellectual property. Unlike most ESPN studio shows, ESPN licenses it instead of producing it: one payment covers McAfee, his co-hosts, producers and the studio, per Front Office Sports in June 2026. McAfee described the aim to The Hollywood Reporter in 2019: “We’re just trying to give people a mental vacation.” As of November 2026 it is in its fourth season on ESPN.
Who is on The Pat McAfee Show cast? Who are the guys on the show in 2026?
As of November 2026, The Pat McAfee Show cast is host Pat McAfee with co-hosts AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Boston Connor, Ty Schmit and Tone Digz. The Pro Football Hall of Fame listed McAfee with A.J. Hawk, “Boston” Connor Campbell, Ty Schmit and Anthony “Tone Digz” DiGuilio as co-hosts for the show’s August 6, 2026 broadcast from Canton, and the show’s podcast notes for November 9, 2026 open with “Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys.” Hawk is the former Green Bay Packers linebacker; Butler is McAfee’s former Colts teammate who runs Everything DB; Boston Connor is the producer turned on-air Patriots fan; Schmit is the producer who plays Fake Lou Holtz; and Tone Digz runs Tone’s Above Average Poll and the betting talk. The podcast’s own description calls the group “Pat McAfee, AJ Hawk, the Toxic Table, and Tone Digs.” Regular guests include Adam Schefter, Nick Saban, JJ Watt, AQ Shipley and Chuck Pagano; the segments table above has the week.
Who left The Pat McAfee Show?
As of November 2026, no one in The Pat McAfee Show’s on-air cast has announced leaving, and we found no report in ESPN, Awful Announcing, Front Office Sports or another accepted outlet of a co-host departing. What the record shows: former NFL Pro Bowler Adam “Pacman” Jones was billed “LIVE In The ThunderDome” in episode titles from March 2023 to March 2024 and has since come back as a guest, including January and February 2025, per the show’s podcast notes. The bigger exits were the show’s own. It left Barstool Sports in 2018, split with SiriusXM in August 2022 after the network “never made an offer to continue our partnership,” per the New York Post, and left a four-year, $120 million FanDuel deal about a year and a half in to join ESPN, per Awful Announcing. A missing face is usually a road day or a vacation: on October 21, 2026, for example, the notes put McAfee, AQ Shipley and Darius Butler in Los Angeles while AJ Hawk and the rest stayed in Indianapolis.
Is The Pat McAfee Show canceled? Is it still on ESPN?
The Pat McAfee Show has not been canceled: as of November 2026 it airs live on ESPN on weekdays, and its podcast feed posted episode 1662 on November 9, 2026. Its ESPN deal, signed in 2023 and reported by the New York Post at $85 million over five years, runs through 2028, per Front Office Sports, which reported on June 1, 2026 that McAfee and ESPN were in early talks on a long-term extension. On June 9, 2026, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that the sides were negotiating $60 million to $65 million a year, per Awful Announcing, and in August ESPN added McAfee to Monday Night Countdown, per Awful Announcing. We found no announcement that the extension has been signed. Days without a show are usually scheduled breaks, covered in the next answer.
Why is The Pat McAfee Show not on today? Is it on break, and when does it come back?
The Pat McAfee Show takes scheduled breaks rather than going off the air, and as of November 2026 the pattern is about two weeks off after the Super Bowl and about two weeks around the Fourth of July. The show’s podcast feed has no new episodes from February 10 to February 24, 2026, after the February 9 show on the Seahawks’ Super Bowl LX win, and none from June 26 to July 12, 2026; it came back live from the NFL Combine on February 25 and the Home Run Derby on July 13. The feed shows similar gaps after the Super Bowl and around July 4 in 2024 and 2025, plus shorter pauses around holidays. On Mondays in the 2026 NFL season it starts at noon Eastern from that week’s Monday Night Football site, per Awful Announcing.
What time is The Pat McAfee Show on, and how long is it?
The Pat McAfee Show airs live Monday through Friday from noon to 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, then continues for a third hour, until 3 p.m. Eastern, on ESPN+ and YouTube, per the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the show’s episode notes as of October 2026. That split has held since the ESPN premiere on September 7, 2023, when ESPN dropped its noon SportsCenter, per Awful Announcing. On Mondays in the 2026 NFL season, ESPN’s day at the Monday Night Football site begins with the show from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern, followed by NFL Live and Monday Night Countdown, per Awful Announcing. The full three hours post as a podcast later the same afternoon.
How can I watch The Pat McAfee Show live? Is it on YouTube, radio or a podcast?
The Pat McAfee Show streams live on YouTube and airs on ESPN and ESPN+, and ESPN publishes each full episode as a podcast. The show’s notes point viewers to ESPN (noon to 2 p.m. Eastern), ESPN’s YouTube channel (noon to 3 p.m. Eastern) and ESPN+, and to the show’s own YouTube channel, which has about 3 million subscribers and more than 2.6 billion views as of November 2026. The podcast is on Apple Podcasts and other apps through ESPN’s feed. It is no longer on satellite radio: it aired on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio from September 2020 until the split in August 2022, per the New York Post. Its first daily radio run was on Westwood One, simulcast on DAZN, from September 9, 2019, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Where is The Pat McAfee Show filmed? Where is it today?
The Pat McAfee Show is filmed at the ThunderDome, its own studio in Indianapolis, per ESPN and Awful Announcing, and it goes on the road often. The show’s notes say it went “officially LIVE from The ThunderDome” on September 19, 2022; in 2019 The Hollywood Reporter placed McAfee’s studio in downtown Indianapolis. Road shows in fall 2026 included Iowa City on October 2, the day before College GameDay’s visit for Ohio State at Iowa, and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on November 9, per the notes, and on Mondays it originates from the Monday Night Football site, per Awful Announcing. On August 6, 2026 it broadcast from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, per the Hall of Fame. In March 2026 the ThunderDome hosted ESPN’s NFL free agency coverage, anchored by McAfee, and in March 2025 McAfee said the show would do its Draft Spectacular from there rather than Green Bay after complaining about his Combine setup, per Front Office Sports. We do not publish the studio’s address.
When did The Pat McAfee Show start? Was it on Barstool?
The Pat McAfee Show started in 2017 as Pat McAfee’s podcast with Barstool Sports, which also ran on SiriusXM’s Barstool channel, per the Pro Football Hall of Fame; McAfee had played his last Colts season in 2016, per ESPN. After he left Barstool, he relaunched it on his own as “The Pat McAfee Show 2.0” on September 4, 2018, an episode the show’s notes say covered “his exit from Barstool Sports and how he viewed it similarly to leaving the Colts.” The show’s YouTube channel dates to August 23, 2017. The daily live version began on September 9, 2019, on Westwood One and DAZN, per The Hollywood Reporter; it moved to SiriusXM in September 2020, per the New York Post, and joined ESPN on September 7, 2023, a day its episode title calls “First Day On ESPN.” The Hall of Fame dates McAfee’s full-time move to ESPN to May 2023.
Who owns The Pat McAfee Show, and who produces it?
Pat McAfee owns The Pat McAfee Show through his company, Pat McAfee Inc. (PMI), and ESPN licenses it; ESPN’s bio calls him PMI’s founder and CEO, the show’s executive producer and the primary owner of his intellectual property. The show is made by McAfee’s own crew in Indianapolis rather than by ESPN’s studio staff: Front Office Sports reported in June 2026 that ESPN makes a single payment covering McAfee, his co-hosts, producers and the studio, and Awful Announcing, summarizing The Athletic, wrote that McAfee owns the program, pays his staff and covers production costs. ESPN and Disney distribute it on TV, ESPN+ and YouTube, and ESPN publishes the podcast. People searching for McAfee the computer security company want a different McAfee; this page is about the sports show.
How much does ESPN pay for The Pat McAfee Show, and how does the show make money?
ESPN pays a reported $17 million a year to license The Pat McAfee Show, under a five-year deal worth a reported $85 million that the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reported in May 2023, per Awful Announcing; that covers 230 shows a year plus McAfee’s weekly College GameDay appearances, and it runs through 2028. In June 2026 The Athletic reported that McAfee’s ESPN pay, show and other work combined, is about $30 million a year, and that an extension of $60 million to $65 million a year was under negotiation after his representatives opened at $100 million, per Awful Announcing. Before ESPN, FanDuel paid for a four-year, $120 million deal signed in December 2021, per the New York Post. Sponsors are the other income: on June 1, 2026 the show announced DraftKings, ESPN’s official sportsbook, as a partner, with no terms disclosed, per Front Office Sports, and brands can pitch through the show’s partnerships page. No outlet we accept has published what the show itself is worth, and we do not estimate it.
What is the Pat McAfee Show cast’s salary and net worth?
As of November 2026, no accepted outlet has reported what The Pat McAfee Show pays AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Boston Connor, Ty Schmit or Tone Digz, so we do not list salaries. What is public: ESPN’s license fee goes to McAfee’s company, which pays the co-hosts and producers itself, per Front Office Sports and Awful Announcing. None of the cast publishes a net worth, and neither do we. Each co-host’s entry, AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Boston Connor, Ty Schmit and Tone Digz, covers what is on the record about his career.
How are The Pat McAfee Show ratings? How popular is it?
The Pat McAfee Show posted its most watched year on ESPN, averaging 436,000 viewers across TV and digital platforms, up 8% from the year before, Front Office Sports reported in February 2026. The same report credited McAfee’s kicking contest with helping College GameDay to its most watched regular season, 2.7 million viewers, up 22%. On YouTube, the show’s channel has about 3 million subscribers and more than 2.6 billion views as of November 2026, and McAfee’s own X account has about 3.4 million followers. ESPN’s bio describes the show as Emmy-nominated.
What happened on The Pat McAfee Show? What are its biggest controversies?
The Pat McAfee Show’s biggest controversies, as reported by accepted outlets, are a 2023 defamation suit from Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers’ remarks about Jimmy Kimmel in January 2024 and a false rumor about a college student in 2025. Favre sued McAfee on February 9, 2023, over McAfee calling him a “thief” on the show, per ESPN; the suit was withdrawn in May 2023, and McAfee said his remarks were comedic and no settlement was paid, per CNN. On January 2, 2024, Rodgers, then a regular Tuesday guest, suggested on the show that Kimmel could be named in Jeffrey Epstein documents; Kimmel threatened legal action, and McAfee said the next day, “we apologize for being a part of it,” per TMZ, while ESPN declined to comment on whether it was examining Rodgers’ role, per NBC Sports’ ProFootballTalk. In February 2025 McAfee repeated a false viral rumor about a University of Mississippi student on air, then apologized to her family and on the show in July 2025, saying he deeply regretted “the pain that was caused,” per NBC News. Front Office Sports wrote in February 2026 that ESPN has stood by McAfee through these episodes.
Our read
Ames Create does not work with The Pat McAfee Show. This is our view, from a team that works on creator brands for a living.
The format. Three hours a day of a former punter and his friends talking football like they are at a bar, with ESPN’s biggest names, coaches and league commissioners dropping in. The bits, costumes and running characters keep it loose; the access keeps it newsy. Because McAfee owns and staffs it, it feels like his show that happens to air on ESPN, not an ESPN show with his name on it.
Why it travels. It travels with the season: College GameDay towns on Fridays, Monday Night Football stadiums on Mondays in 2026, the Combine, the Draft and the Home Run Derby. Every interview and blowup becomes a clip on a YouTube channel of about 3 million subscribers, which is how co-hosts who started as interns and producers became names people search.
Brand fit. Beer, betting, trucks, game-day food and anything aimed at young male sports fans, the audience Front Office Sports says made McAfee valuable to FanDuel and now DraftKings. Deals run through the show’s own partnerships team, and DraftKings holds the sportsbook slot as of November 2026. The room is loose and has drawn lawsuits and apologies, so brands that need a scripted, careful read are a harder fit.
Related
- Barstool SportsSports and comedy media company founded by Dave Portnoy in 2003, known for podcasts such as Pardon My Take and Spittin’ Chiclets and for the personalities who make them.
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Sources: The Pat McAfee Show podcast feed (episodes from September 4, 2018 to November 9, 2026), Apple Podcasts, YouTube channel, patmcafeeshow.com partnerships and McAfee on X; Pro Football Hall of Fame, August 2026; ESPN Press Room bio; The Hollywood Reporter, 2019; New York Post, August 29, 2022; Awful Announcing on the ESPN contract, May 31, 2023, the ESPN premiere, August 17, 2023, free agency from the ThunderDome, March 3, 2026, extension talks, June 1, 2026, the $60 million report, June 9, 2026 and Monday Night Countdown, August 19, 2026; Front Office Sports on the guest game and ratings, February 27, 2026, extension talks and DraftKings, June 1, 2026 and the Draft Spectacular, March 5, 2025; ESPN, February 9, 2023; CNN, May 2023; TMZ, January 3, 2024; ProFootballTalk, January 3, 2024; NBC News, July 2025; Famous Birthdays for Pat McAfee and AJ Hawk. Statuses cross-checked against each linked entry. Subscriber count read from YouTube and follower count from X, November 2026.
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