Pat McAfee will have his SmackDown Live commentator role on hold after the announcement that he’ll be joining College Gameday full-time.
It was recently announced that McAfee will join ‘College GameDay’ on ESPN starting this Saturday. This won’t affect McAfee’s daily sports show on YouTube, which is currently in the middle of a four-year $120 million dollar deal with FanDuel.
However, with McAfee’s commentator duties for WWE taking place on Friday nights on SmackDown, and College Gameday taking place the following morning, that could pose some travel concerns for the ex-NFL punter.
As a result, McAfee announced on his show, “The Pat McAfee Show,” today that his role as a commentator on SmackDown Live will be put on hold. However, he’s still a member of the WWE family.
Triple H followed up with a Tweet confirming the news, suggesting that WWE is looking forward to McAfee’s return in the future.
McAfee has been competing for WWE as an in-ring performer sporadically over the past few months. He’s become quite the fan-favorite, especially on commentary, so his absence will certainly be felt.
The college football season ends in January, making that a likely return timeframe for McAfee should he decide to do so.