Josh Pate is the most popular college football commentator on the internet. This fall, he will also expand his partnership with ESPN, co-hosting a new Friday television program with "Bussin' With the Boys" hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan from college campuses across the country.
This week, Pate spoke to OutKick about how, not long ago, he was making just $27,000 a year and was eventually evicted from his home. Today, he runs one of the most successful independent brands in sports media and says he turns down sponsorship opportunities to avoid overexposing himself.
During the discussion, I read aloud a text I received from a top sports media agent a few weeks ago, saying that the four people ESPN plans to build around for its future are Pat McAfee, Laura Rutledge, Peter Schrager and Josh Pate.
"Wow. That's company that I don't think I belong in, because I've got pretty big reverence professionally for everyone you just mentioned. I don't know Peter as well. Laura Rutledge is a living, breathing angel. Pat McAfee, to me, when you mention that name, you have to mention that name, and then you have to stop," Pate responded.
"I go back, I use this comparison sometimes. I grew up on pro wrestling, ironically, speaking of Pat. I remember since that Attitude Era, late '90s, when I would have been a kid growing up, there's been this whole industry that has scaled and blown up around retrospectively looking back at that era. One of the concepts that always stood out to me and slapped me in the face, because I can relate to it and apply it to my professional life, is when people talk about the impact Steve Austin had on the industry of pro wrestling," he continued.
"There have been big stars before. There have been guys who made a lot of money. But the transcendent ones, the ones that you look back on a quarter-century later, are the ones who not only created wealth and success for themselves, but created wealth and success for hundreds and thousands of other people merely because they existed. That's Pat McAfee in our space."
While Pate wasn't interested in comparing himself to McAfee, he described his expanded role with ESPN as something that still feels like a dream.
"It's pretty surreal, to be honest with you. Myself, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan...we will be on a different campus every Friday...we wanted to be on campus. We wanted to be with college football fans...Friday is a different vibe, and if you're around college football, you know what I mean. A Friday in a college town, there's sort of this rising action vibe," he explained.
In addition to his new agreement with ESPN, Pate will retain ownership of his media company and his flagship "Josh Pate's College Football Show." Pate explained that the business has five or six primary revenue streams, including YouTube AdSense and other programmatic revenue, brand deals, public speaking engagements, merchandise and talent deals.
"We do a ton of revenue in merchandising because we have fun with it. So that is its own bucket. You've got public events, you've got appearances, you've got speaking engagements. That's its own bucket. You've of course got your talent deals, in this case ESPN," Pate said.
"Because of the way I structure it in my mind, I don't think of them as multiple streams, although they are multiple streams in the classic sense. So you're probably looking at five or six main ones just right there."
Pate told OutKick he has no interest in weighing in on topics simply because others believe someone with a large platform should address them, namely politics and the WNBA. His philosophy is to focus on subjects he knows and that his audience comes to him to discuss.
"It's my responsibility to do whatever I want with my platform," Pate said. "You've got zero right to direct other people on what to do with theirs, because the very nature of them having a platform probably means they know their audience pretty well, and probably means they know what their audience does and doesn't want to hear from them."
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And while college football is his primary passion professionally, Pate says he plans to expand his media company into his second passion: Weather.
"Weather is my other passion. Storm chasing, specifically," Pate said. "This is something I've given a lot of thought to over the past year. It's had a lot of my attention, specifically since last winter. So I don't think this will be a hypothetical for long. I think this is something that we'll try and pursue."
Pate noted that he is not a degreed meteorologist and therefore would not expect to be the face of such a project. But his interest in atmospheric science and storm chasing runs deep. He said he spends between 15 and 30 days on the road storm chasing during the spring.
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"Even if I am covering college football, that may be an avenue we go down one day," he said.
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Finally, Pate explained how important God and his faith are to his daily life.
"Absolutely," Pate responded when asked if he believes in God. "It is woven into every moment of every breath I take. Like every day that I live. I view God as omnipresent in my life. I always have."
Watch our full interview with Josh Pate on YouTube here.