Pat McAfee has yet to sign a contract with College GameDay. Plus: Jeff Van Gundy takes assistant coaching job with the Clippers; NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit entering final days, with a favorable outcome for the league looking likely.
McAfee not yet inked to GameDay deal
Pat McAfee has not signed a contract for ESPN’s College GameDay despite announcing late last year that he would return to the program, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported on Tuesday. The new season of GameDay is set to kickoff about two months from now for a ‘Week 0’ game between Florida State and Georgia Tech in Ireland.
McAfee waffled on his involvement in ESPN’s flagship college football show as recently as last season. The former punter turned talk show host posted on social media last October publicizing his lack of commitment, citing a survey in The Athletic where nearly half of fans held unfavorable views of him as reason to depart the show.
Per Marchand’s report, McAfee and ESPN are still working toward a deal, but nothing has been signed thus far. (The Athletic, 6.18)
Jeff Van Gundy inks coaching deal with Clippers
Former ESPN NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy will serve as Tyronn Lue’s lead assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers, ESPN reported on Wednesday. Van Gundy spent the 2023-24 season as a senior consultant with the Boston Celtics.
Long rumored to have interest in a return to coaching, Van Gundy spent 16 years as part of ESPN’s lead NBA broadcast team — primarily alongside analyst Mark Jackson and play-by-play announcer Mike Breen. The analyst duo fell victim to expansive layoffs at ESPN last summer, leaving the network with high profile vacancies on its top NBA team. A fear that Van Gundy would leave his television career for coaching reportedly played a role in his ouster.
With two new broadcast partners, NBC and Amazon, in pole position to secure NBA rights as the league finalizes a new set of deals, Van Gundy’s name has been floated as a possibility to fill the top analyst position for either broadcaster. Those deals start in the 2025-26 season, leaving the door open for a return to television after a year with the Clippers. (ESPN, 6.18)
NFL Sunday Ticket trial enters final days
Closing arguments in the class action lawsuit filed against the NFL over anticompetitive practices regarding its Sunday Ticket package are scheduled to begin early next week, per the Associated Press on Wednesday. The league faces up to $21b in damages should a jury find them liable, though that outcome is seeming unlikely after Judge Philip Gutierrez admonished attorneys for the plaintiffs earlier this week over wasting time with unnecessary testimony. Later in the week Gutierrez said, “This case has turned into 25 hours of depositions and gobbledygook.” Per the report, Gutierrez will consider invoking a rule that prevents the case from reaching a jury decision entirely due to an insufficient amount of evidence having been presented. (AP, 6.18)
