Colts P Pat McAfee yesterday announced he is "retiring from professional football, effective immediately, to work with Barstool Sports," according to Zak Keefer of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. McAfee will "run Barstool's new content-production studio based in Indianapolis" that will soon open. He made "several trips" to N.Y. in the weeks following the Colts’ season finale to "hammer out the deal with Barstool Sports." A sticking point for McAfee was his "intent on staying in Indianapolis." McAfee said that he signed on once Barstool "decided to open up an office" in the city. McAfee, whose role is "expected to be wide-ranging," has spent some of his "free time in recent years writing poetry and screenplays" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/2). Colts K Adam Vinatieri said McAfee started talking about working for the sports media outlet around midseason. Vinatieri: "The Barstool guys started courting him a little bit, and he's bouncing things off me. I'm saying, 'Are you sure you want to do this?' But he's been very adamant about it, and he's excited for it" ("PFT," NBCSN, 2/2).
GENERALLY UNAWARE: The NFL earlier this week pulled Super Bowl credentials from Barstool employees, but Commissioner Roger Goodell at his State of the League address yesterday said that he was "unaware" of the incident. Goodell: "I’m not familiar with this. I really don’t have any information about who’s credentialed and who’s not credentialed. ... But I think you can see by looking around we have pretty open arms about who attends the Super Bowl as a media outlet." In Boston, Evan Drellich notes the NFL on Tuesday said that it "pulled Barstool Sports’ credentials" because four employees "organized a sit-in at the league offices" in May '15 after Goodell’s punishment of Patriots QB Tom Brady in Deflategate. Goodell was asked if Barstool's "lack of credential played into the idea of a No Fun League." Goodell: "I have never heard that in the context of No Fun league" (BOSTON HERALD, 2/2).
