Pat McAfee Eyed for Major Football Broadcast Position
Pat McAfee is close to having another big job. According to the New York Post, the former NFL punter and current announcer for WWE SmackDown is in talks with Amazon to be part of its Thursday Night Football coverage, which begins this fall. There are also talks about possibly airing The Pat McAfee Show on Amazon Prime Video. The show currently airs on YouTube and Sirius XM.
The Post said that nothing has been finalized yet, but McAfee has mentioned on his show that he has spoken with Amazon executives. It was recently announced that Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will call the games on Thursday Night Football. Before Amazon landed Michaels and Herbstreit, McAfee said he didn't want to be a color commentator in the booth due to the large time commitment.
This comes three weeks after McAfee competed in WrestleMania 38. The former Indianapolis Colts punter took on WWE Superstar Theory and came away with the win. McAfee then took on Vince McMahon but came up short in the match. However, all was not lost for McAfee as he got to drink beers with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He also got stunned by Austin, which was all a dream for him.
"Last night was a dream come true," McAfee told Fightful after WrestleMania, per 411 Mania. "Last night was the time of my life. Last night…I should have been undefeated at WrestleMania, but I got bamboozled. There was no way that was a sanctioned match. I'm undefeated at WrestleMania. Absolutely thankful for everybody and everything. Austin Theory, he's a good kid. He's on his way. I was very fortunate to be in there. There was some cool stuff that took place at WrestleMania. Shoutout to everybody on the internet that gave me a lot of love. I can't thank you enough. It was a f—ing dream and you guys are the best."
Amazon will be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football for the next 11 seasons. The streaming service will stream 15 regular-season games and one preseason game per year. "We know what NFL games mean to fans, and just like the Rams and Bengals, we're taking our game to the next level," Amazon vice president of global sports video Marie Donoghue said in a statement in February. "With Prime Video as the exclusive home for TNF we have the ability to build a one-of-a-kind new experience for Prime members. It's a huge opportunity and one our team is excited to take on as we get ready to kick off this fall."