--- description: Find out why Pat McAfee was selected for TIME‘s 2026 list of the most influential people in sports. title: TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026: Pat McAfee image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955ba25711fdadf3/6a209e68b60cee9b573f42f2/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Pat-McAfee.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jun 09, 2026 # Pat McAfee by [Sean Gregory](/author/sean-gregory/) ## Sean Gregory Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent  Doug Murray—Icon Sportswire/Getty Images Pat McAfee, the former Indianapolis Colts punter fond of wearing tank tops on camera, has built an impressive media presence. In 2023, McAfee signed a five-year, $85 million deal with ESPN for the network to license his daily YouTube show. Its unfiltered style—and newsmaking discussions with controversial vaccine-skeptic Aaron Rodgers—gained traction among sports fans. McAfee has earned a seat at the _College GameDay_ table: His kicking contests on the beloved ESPN football pregame program, in which students try to convert a 33-yard field goal on campus for cash prizes, regularly go viral; McAfee has awarded more than $5 million in cash and charitable contributions over the past two seasons. His heel character has also made regular WWE appearances in recent years, exposing his brand to an ever-wider audience, though in April he said he’s stepping away from wrestling. McAfee’s access to sports and entertainment figures should give him a prominent voice for years to come. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/pat-mcafee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/pat-mcafee/"},"headline":"Pat McAfee","datePublished":"2026-06-09T12:00:46.639Z","dateModified":"2026-06-09T12:00:46.872Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/pat-mcafee/","keywords":["list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955ba25711fdadf3/6a209e68b60cee9b573f42f2/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Pat-McAfee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sean Gregory","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/"}],"creator":"Sean Gregory","articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955ba25711fdadf3/6a209e68b60cee9b573f42f2/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Pat-McAfee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/pat-mcafee/","name":"Pat McAfee"}}]}] ```