Give HBCUs The ESPN Gameday Highlight

[ad_1] by Daniel Johnson July 28, 2025

Newton says he can carry the identical sort of highlight to HBCU soccer packages that Pat McAfee brings to school soccer packages.

Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton desires to carry an HBCU-focused School Gameday expertise to ESPN, which he pitched throughout a current episode of his podcast “4th and 1 with Cam Newton.”

In response to Sports activities Illustrated, in Newton’s opinion, he believes that he can carry the identical sort of highlight to HBCU soccer packages that Pat McAfee brings to school soccer packages–minus the controversy that McAfee courts–throughout his appearances on ESPN’s flagship School Gameday program and his personal present, which ESPN hosts, however doesn't produce.

“Give Cam Newton a Pat McAfee-like deal… You discuss in regards to the content material, then you can begin displaying the tailgates, the coed part. In terms of field workplaces, I can present you what’s attention-grabbing about HBCUs. Nicely, you speaking in regards to the content material? Which one in every of these members of the media is prepared to enter the coed part? I'm. That is the sweetest gig in sports activities,” Newton famous.

He continued, “I wanna be part of the Black School Soccer Gameday. You get me to the Tuskegee, the Savannah States, the Tennessee States, the Jackson States, the Morgan States, the North Carolina Centrals, the North Carolina A&Ts, the North Carolina A&M — Alabama A&M. My character is full of life. It’s a lot to inform in regards to the school expertise that I'd like to be part of it.”

Though Cam Newton definitely has star energy, his pitch is contingent upon community bosses at ESPN recognizing the worth of a program centered round HBCUs, taking on beneficial media actual property like The Pat McAfee Present or First Take, which did various HBCU highway exhibits in 2024.

Shannon Sharpe, Cam Newton, and Stephen A. Smith kick off First Take dwell from Clark Atlanta College as a part of their HBCU highway present!pic.twitter.com/pellzJ1HSu

— Every thing Georgia (@GAFollowers) November 8, 2024

HU!!!!!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️ We simply kicked off the HBCU TOUR 🔥 First cease was @HowardU & they completely confirmed up and confirmed OUT! The ☀️ didn’t come to play however you already know we bought the most popular takes 😮💨 can yo HBCU do it higher!? pic.twitter.com/7zY7TivinG

— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) September 20, 2024

Though particular scores numbers for these exhibits aren’t out there, clips of the appearances shared by ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe had been in style on social media websites.

For Newton to safe such a deal, nonetheless, he should show his value to ESPN executives, not essentially the worth of programming centered round HBCUs.

As a 2023 press launch from ESPN notes, McAfee’s $85 million multiyear licensing take care of the community happened due to his capacity to leverage his present’s reputation. If Newton desires that sort of deal, he wants to show his podcast into appointment new media, just like what McAfee was capable of do along with his present.

“Pat is a confirmed expertise. He and his crew have constructed The Pat McAfee Present into one of the partaking packages in sports activities and all of media,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro stated within the press launch. “It’s a vacation spot for athlete interviews and breaking information, and the centerpiece of a rising neighborhood of sports activities followers. We’re honored to carry Pat and the present to ESPN by way of a multifaceted, multiplatform strategy.”

To that time, Newton’s podcast solely has 500K followers on YouTube, whereas McAfee’s present has greater than 2.9 million, a stark distinction that any studio govt would level to in the event that they had been requested for a deal within the vary of or with an identical construction to McAfee’s deal.

Whereas Newton’s thought would undoubtedly be good for the visibility of HBCU sports activities, maybe Newton ought to search to pivot and switch segments of his podcast right into a showcase for HBCUs that he envisions, so he can each create worth within the eyes of community executives and publicity for the storied HBCU packages he appears to have an affinity and respect for.