• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 10, 2024

Someone at ESPN is trying to sabotage one of its own shows? Sounds intriguing.

That's what the host of the midday sports talker "Pat McAfee Show" believes is happening. 

McAfee alleges that executive editor and head of event and studio production Norby Williamson is behind the move, according to statements he made in The New York Post. 

The specific move, according to McAfee, is an “actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand. That's a sabotage attempt,” he reportedly said.

And what were those numbers? McAfee did not say. 

Just after this story, ESPN released average viewership for McAfee show, which totaled 886,000 viewers across ESPN, YouTube, and TikTok.

Does ESPN issue viewership for just its own networks sans non-owned platforms? Is that what is at issue here?

The New York Post says ESPN is paying McAfee in excess of $85 million over five years to license his show and appear on “College GameDay.”

All this might seem to be confusing. Nielsen, the industry standard, is available everywhere. Why would Williamson release incorrect or lower viewership? 

This comes just days after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made an unfounded claim on McAfee's show about ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. After that segment aired, McAfee apologized for the incident.

The problem is that neither Rodgers or McAfee are journalists. It all sounds like something perhaps neither should be talking about. 

Her's what McAfee said: “I believe Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program. I'm not 100% sure -- he's just seemingly the only human that has information.” 

That seems kind of crazy. The only human?

So other people inside and outside ESPN don't have access to these Nielsen-measured viewer ratings?

Is that correct? Maybe there is something else afoot -- perhaps other show viewer information coming from third parties? We don't know.

On Monday, McAfee doubled down on this claim, saying this: “There was some comments about a particular person at ESPN that I only made on the YouTube and ESPN+ show. It was not on linear TV,”

McAfee talked about the 2 p.m. ET hour that doesn't air on ESPN's cable network where he talked about Williamson last week. “I didn't know anyone was going to hear it.”

Hmmm. So, not too many people watching his show on those platforms, which means.... what?

We do know this: Some major, high-salaried sports athletes or on-air TV network hosts/talent may think they are invincible due to perceived performance power. But are they also news reporters attempting to nail down the correct information?

Let's get back journalistic processes -- not necessarily qualifications of being an on-air host or a big time NFL quarterback.

Getting confirmation of any “news” before making a statement, writing a story, or otherwise is always the best, yes? 

What you want to do is perhaps at least what TV Watch is doing right here: TV Watch reached out to ESPN for comment concerning Pat McAfee remarks about Williamson. 

Here is ESPN’s reply: “No one is more committed to and invested in ESPN’s success than Norby Williamson. At the same time, we are thrilled with the multi-platform success that we have seen from ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ across ESPN.

We will handle this matter internally and have no further comment.”

Yes, journalism sometimes is just like that.