ESPN has, quite literally, completely changed their landscape overnight.
The ‘Worldwide Leader in Sports’ has undergone a radical shift over the last few days.
Popular faces including Ryan Clark, Karl Ravech and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network – who ESPN purchased for an estimated $2 billion at the start of the year – being part of the mass layoffs made within the company.
But according to a new report from Front Office Sports, ESPN are in talks over a new college football show with Josh Pate and Bussin’ With The Boys co-hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan.
Pate made various guest appearances on ESPN’s Get Up throughout the course of last season, with reports later emerging that the network were looking to expand his role further in 2026.
Currently, he hosts his own titular show which has seen him partner with the likes of Yahoo! Sports and On3, amassing over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube.
He has cited his ambitions to follow in the path of ESPN’s superstar on-air talent Pat McAfee, who just inked a contract extension that is set to see him earn upward of $60 million annually.
“You look at Pat, namely, and you look at what a trailblazing few years this has been. What a game-changing few years this has been,” Pate told FOS.
“And then you look at yourself and say, ‘All right, well, I’ve got an opportunity now.’
“Like, what a shame if I drop the ball with my little portion in my little lane over here because there could be 50 people down the road that maybe benefit from what we do, carrying the college football flag on a network like ESPN.”
McAfee’s lucrative extension led to former NFL star J.J. Watt taking a swipe at him, in which he jokingly accused McAfee of single-handedly getting everyone fired.
For Compton and Lewan, though, joining ESPN is just another major move having previously migrated the popular podcast over from Barstool Sports to a presenting sponsorship with FanDuel back in January 2025.
3
3
“We have more independence going solo,” Compton told FOS of the decision to leave Barstool last year. “We get to think about it more as growing the brand, growing the business versus just pouring into a singular podcast.
“And FanDuel just really gave us that access, the opportunities … I have nothing but good things to say about Barstool.
“But again, it was one of those bittersweet things to where we were just ready to kind of spread our wings and bet on ourselves in kind of like a different area inside of the industry.”
After the reports came out, former Tennessee Titans tackle Lewan took to social media in which he posted, “This sounds awesome. What’s the name of the show?”
The new college football show, if granted the green light, is expected to air on Friday afternoons at various college campuses, and will sometimes take place on the same site of the popular College GameDay.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who criticized ESPN’ earlier this week, even took to social media, in which he likened ESPN’s shift in strategy to that of his company.
“ESPN really just Barstool Jr now 😂,” he posted to X.
It has been clear from the start that ESPN are trying to clearly establish a new identity to align with the way that the digital landscape, in a world where social media clicks appear to be driving strategy, appears to be moving.
The way that they have handed this transition, though, has been deemed questionable by many.
Stay up to date on all things NFL across our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET.
