It was jarring watching rebel-for-any-cause Pat McAfee basically dismissing the news that NFL RedZone this Sunday for the first time in its 16-year history will include commercials.
But, like it or not, fair or not, that makes McAfee – who otherwise has a well-deserved reputation for being a man of the people – the face of compliance following the NFL’s agreement to become a minority owner in ESPN.
McAfee is by no means a “journalist” nor pretends to be – he might think the label is an insult – but he also becomes an example in real time of how the looming deal in which ESPN and the NFL are getting in bed together may indeed affect the journalism done by the network.
McAfee, by the way, was not alone on the conflicted journalism front when NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson announced on his show that NFL RedZone will no longer be commercial-free. More on that in a moment.
“I don’t think anybody’s upset about the commercials,” McAfee told Hanson and the audience during a segment on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. “It’s an easy thing to kind of tweet about and post about. But I don’t think anybody’s turning it off because of commercials.”
