Pat McAfee Shows Off Impressive Ratings in Response to Critics Who Opposed His Move to ESPN: ‘I Was Getting Terrible Things Said About Me’

Former NFL player Pat McAfee on Wednesday took a moment to reflect on the backlash behind his decision to join ESPN.

In May, McAfee confirmed rumors on The Pat McAfee Show that he would be joining the network. In addition to his work every weekend on College GameDay, McAfee’s show now airs on ESPN at noon on weekdays. Though it’s on ESPN, the show is still completely free to watch on YouTube as it always has been.

On Wednesday, McAfee revealed the ratings for the first four weeks of the show’s inclusion on ESPN. Between Sept. 7 and Sept. 29, The Pat McAfee Show averaged 1.4 million viewers per show across linear (cable) and YouTube. The show’s Sept. 15 episode — which was taped live at the University of Colorado and featured Colorado coach Deion Sanders and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — attracted nearly two million viewers.

While going over those numbers, McAfee recalled the initial reluctance from his fans when he announced the move to ESPN. Many, he said, accused him of selling out.

“This show could’ve been an abysmal failure,” McAfee said. “We had no idea what was gonna happen whenever we came over here to ESPN. I know our people were not happy that we necessarily were coming to ESPN. They were calling me a sellout. I was getting terrible things said about me, to me, from ‘our people.’ These people were telling me terrible things. These people that are our fans were just… I mean, the messages I was getting from people about how much I let them down and how big of a fraud I am and how big of a sellout I am… All these things were terrible.”

McAfee reiterated that despite the show now operating under ESPN’s banner, he was determined to change as little as possible. In fact, on its ESPN debut, McAfee stated that the unfiltered nature of the show would remain and they were still allowed to swear as much as they want — with the exception of the word “fuck.”

He also claimed the crew was unsure if ESPN’s viewers would like the show as much as the YouTube audience.

“Boy, we thought they were gonna hate us,” McAfee said. “Now, there’s still a long way to go, but it does feel as if what we are doing is potentially working a little bit and we are incredibly grateful for all parties.”

Watch above via ESPN.