Pat McAfee is returning to ESPN's College GameDay to once again ruin the show

For fans of college football, Saturday mornings in 2024 will once again be filled with needless screaming, childhood antics, and failed bits as controversial media personality Pat McAfee is returning to ESPN's flagship pregame show, College GameDay.

This is a disappointing turn for those who enjoyed GameDay prior to McAfee's arrival as a full-time cast member in 2022. In recent weeks, there have been rumors that the boisterous personality who also appears on WWE programming and hosts his own daily talk show on ESPN wouldn't return to the GameDay set this fall.

Unfortunately, McAfee announced Wednesday that he would be part of the nation's top college football pregame show for another season. And of course, he couldn't do so without dropping some needless profanity into his remarks.

"It is officially official... I am returning to College GameDay," McAfee said on social media.

"Although I don't want to make a big deal out of it. I know it is a big f-ckin' deal that it's happening... When you get offered the opportunity to join the College GameDay, you can't say no to that. You're talking about one of the greatest shows in the history of television."

Of course, McAfee couldn't make his announcement without also trashing an ESPN lawyer that he apparently clashed with during the negotiation process. What the real story is with that interaction, we'll never know but the way McAfee handled the whole drama is indicative of the brash, pro-wrestling attitude the former NFL punter brings to the GameDay set.

With long-time College GameDay staple Lee Coroso taking a smaller role on the show due to his declining health following a stroke, ESPN has gambled that the injection of McAfee's personality and antics will bring energy and excitement to GameDay.

Certainly, he has tried to up the ante since his arrival on set as a full-time cast member. For instance, he's not shy about ripping his shirt off as if he's a college football broadcasting version of Hulk Hogan or a wanna-be Bert Kreischer.

On other occasions, he's crowd-surfed as if he were a rock star at a concert and even belly-flopped into the Brazos River in Waco. Those antics combined with his constant screaming on stage have turned many fans away. It all feels as if McAfee is trying to be a combination of Steven A. Smith meets Dude Perfect on steroids and it doesn't work.

For decades, fans have tuned into College GameDay to get an analysis of each Saturday's premiere games. Sure, there were occasional bits laced throughout the show however, the focus was always on football and the stories that drive it.

However, McAfee wants the show to be about himself. He'll do anything to draw attention to his wacky antics and his performance is all about gaining internet clicks.

With McAfee screaming and clowning his way through every Saturday morning, GameDay has become less about football and more about an almost 40-year-old man acting like he's trying to live out his college glory days all over again. What's more, a majority of fans aren't buying into his shtick.

A poll conducted last fall by The Athletic showed that nearly 50% of respondents did not like McAfee's presence on GameDay. Meanwhile, only 30% of those who responded were in favor of his addition to the show.

Perhaps ESPN doesn't care if college football fans love or hate McAfee. All that likely matters to the network is that people talk about him, which is what is happening here and all across the internet today.

However, for a large portion of the fan base, McAfee has made GameDay unwatchable. His goal isn't to bring the audience's attention to the athletes performing on the field that day but rather to make it all about what he can do to stir up the masses and cause the conversation to be about him. It's a strategy that has made him tons of money so in a way, it has worked, at least for McAfee. On the other hand, it has ruined an ESPN institution in the process.