Story byJeff HauserTue, January 13, 2026 at 11:48 PM UTC·2 min readESPN executives push back after Athletic survey questions Pat McAfee’s popularity originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. ESPN executives publicly defended Pat McAfee on Tuesday after a recent The Athletic reader survey suggested declining popularity for the outspoken College GameDay analyst. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Athletic’s survey asked readers how they felt about McAfee’s presence on the weekly college football pregame show. Nearly half of respondents — 49.5 percent — said they did not like McAfee on GameDay, while 31.6 percent said they liked him and 18.9 percent reported no opinion. Not a surprise considering how people seems split on McAfee, but the timing right before the National Championship game is odd. However, ESPN executives questioned whether the survey reflects reality and a true market test size. ESPN’s president of content Burke Magnus responded on social media by pushing ratings over reader polls.