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The sports media industry is abuzz about the reported $60 million (or more) contract extension Pat McAfee is discussing with ESPN, and the roles he is expected to take on as part of the deal. This fall, McAfee will be the face of ESPN’s college football and NFL studio programming, while also hosting its most prominent daytime show. Much of the $60 million would go toward producing the daily show, which he licenses to the Worldwide Leader. However, fans and rival talent have sniped over the timing of the network’s recent layoffs as it plans to give McAfee a handsome raise. McAfee is not the only talent or producer to make as much money as he does at ESPN, but he is unique because he does both. By blanketing its airwaves and balance sheet with McAfee, the network risks not only overexposing McAfee but also crowding out younger commentators. In an appearance this week on the Casuals podcast, Elle Duncan, who left ESPN earlier this year, elaborated on how similar changes are happening across the industry as networks and production companies solidify programming around a handful of mega stars. “I just think in general with any company … sometimes it’s about trying to be as creative as possible, to say, ‘OK, we’ve got our Pat McAfee, and he’s one of our faces of the network, how do we build our next version of that from inside the house?'” she said. “Instead of going and licensing or co-opting, how do we build that here? How do we take a home-grown talent and give them the platforming and the positioning and the producing to make them of that level? How do we tap into other demos that are also important?” Duncan was among that “middle class” of recognizable ESPN talent, and came up through the old pipeline after starting on SportsCenter. After stints covering sports locally in Atlanta and Boston, she used the opportunities afforded by ESPN to become the face of the network’s women’s basketball coverage and even made weekly appearances on First Take for a spell. Duncan’s departure from ESPN was one of the more emotional on-air exits in recent memory. Still, Duncan understands McAfee’s appeal to both audiences and executives. “I’m a fan of Pat, I was before. Just because I get his audience. I understand why people think he’s an asset,” she said. “I think years ago before Pat, ESPN was trying to tap into that demo by pulling in Barstool. It didn’t work out with Barstool; in fact, it was a very quick end to that. But I think that they’re trying to tap into that young, white male demo. It’s a big demo. I get why they want to give him that.” Duncan believes ESPN and McAfee get more of the criticism simply because they are the biggest and most visible examples of the industry-wide trend (one that reaches beyond sports and into cable news, late-night television, and radio as well). As McAfee continues to expand his reach and flourish under the ESPN banner, Duncan said she simply hopes that his opportunities don’t come at the expense of others’. “Instead of just taking a bona fide star like a Pat McAfee or a Stephen A., we say, how do we create the next Pat McAfee?” she said. “By taking a chance and taking a swing instead of needing proof of concept ahead of time that they’re already going to be a success.” It would be an exaggeration to say ESPN has given up on building out a pipeline, but with less programming overall and more of its budget going toward live sports rights, audiences today largely look elsewhere for up-and-coming talent. New voices hone their skills and build a community online, and then graduate into partnerships with corporate media companies — just as McAfee did earlier this decade. Barstool’s Dave Portnoy often nods to this pattern by calling ESPN “Barstool Jr.,” but the trend goes beyond ESPN’s campus in Bristol. Companies like Barstool and other digital media networks built around forward-facing founders have largely replaced the Worldwide Leader as the pipeline for the rest of the industry, especially on the talk and commentary side.