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ESPN Silences Pat McAfee's Critics With 'Monday Night Countdown' Ratings
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- ESPN Silences Pat McAfee's Critics With 'Monday Night Countdown' Ratings
Pat McAfee might be the most criticized broadcaster in sports, but make no mistake, he moves the needle for ESPN.
Prior to the start of the 2026 NFL season, ESPN added McAfee to the "Monday Night Countdown" crew. When that announcement was initially made, football fans complained about McAfee being overexposed to ESPN's audience.
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Well, it turns out ESPN made the right call adding McAfee to its NFL coverage.
ESPN revealed that "Monday Night Countdown" currently has its highest viewership in a decade. "Monday Night Countdown" is averaging 1.6 million viewers per show, which is up 26% from last year's ratings.
Mar 2, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; NFL Network hosts Daniel Jeremiah (left), Pat McAfee (center) and Rich Eisen during the 2024 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.
According to the Worldwide Leader in Sports, its revamped crew for "Monday Night Countdown" has produced increased ratings in several demographics, including its female audience and viewers ranging from 18-49 years old.
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"McAfee haters in absolute shambles with that first stat… 80% increase is insane. Pat and the boys are the best thing to happen to ESPN in my generation," one fan declared. "Sorry not sorry."
"ESPN keeps putting him on shows because he keeps driving ratings and people keep watching," Chase Senior of Chat Sports said. "All the social media backlash, as with everything, represents the minority opinion, not the majority."
McAfee isn't done with ESPN.
ESPN has the honor of televising Super Bowl LXI from SoFi Stadium this upcoming February. While Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will handle the standard telecast, McAfee will get to host the alt-cast for the network.
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McAfee's alt-cast, "Monday Night FootballField Pass," is also slated to cover a few regular-season games, including a Week 9 showdown between the Bills and Vikings.
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic , McAfee's alt-cast for the Commanders-49ers game in Week 6 had 351,000 viewers.
It'll be fascinating to see how McAfee's alt-cast performs moving forward.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Oct 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
