Netflix's Next Move May Be Pat McAfee

Netflix is emerging as the frontrunner for Pat McAfee's next media deal, and the implications stretch beyond one personality.

McAfee signed a five-year, $85 million licensing deal with ESPN in 2023, running through 2028. With roughly two years remaining, his next deal window is beginning to take shape. Ari Emanuel, TKO's executive chairman and the architect of Netflix's WWE deal, is now involved in positioning what comes next, with stated ambitions to turn McAfee into a full-scale media property.

The strategic logic is hard to argue with. McAfee has been part of the regular commentary team on Netflix-distributed WWE Raw since its January 2025 premiere, and Netflix has been expanding into live video podcasting, the exact format McAfee built his career around. Triple H recently called McAfee "the face of WWE to a lot of people," reinforcing his value as someone who can bridge sports, entertainment and professional wrestling simultaneously.

"Pat McAfee did not fit the traditional sports broadcaster mold. He identified a specific audience who were passionate about their teams and leagues and created an IP that tapped into that passion. He had a vision and he stuck to it and the end result is an alternative broadcast that is great for fans and advertisers." - Jean Carucci, principal owner, Carucci Consultants

What makes this worth watching for streaming operators isn't the deal itself. It's the architecture behind it. Emanuel sits at the intersection of talent representation, sports rights and platform relationships in a way that allows him to bundle all three. That's a fundamentally different kind of negotiation than the industry has seen before.

Whether Netflix, ESPN or another suitor ultimately wins, Emanuel's involvement signals McAfee's next contract will extend well beyond a standard media deal. For streaming platforms trying to build durable sports franchises, that's the model worth studying.