Kirk Herbstreit Told Pat McAfee About Having Eight of His Sports Emmys Repossessed

Kirk Herbstreit and Pat McAfee shared a laugh about fake names and ESPN's Sports Emmys.

Kirk Herbstreit on The Pat McAfee Show. / ESPN

Kirk Herbstreit joined "The Pat McAfee Show" on Wednesday, which happened to be the day after the 45th Annual Sports Emmy Awards were announced. McAfee and Herbstreit both appear on ESPN's College GameDay, which won the award for Outstanding Studio Show - Weekly. McAfee took the opportunity to joke the recent news that ESPN had submitted fake names to get trophies for ineligible on-air personalities.

Herbstreit appeared to try to play it cool before laughing and telling the story about how he had eight trophies repossessed from his home.

Kirk Herbstreit reveals that he had eight of his trophies repossessed following the College GameDay Emmy scandal. pic.twitter.com/j8AJhtJiLo

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 22, 2024

"I had eight taken out of my house," Herbstreit said. "I was naive to the whole thing. I thought obviously the people on the set would get an Emmy. So all these years I didn't know that, I didn't know what was going on. I was not privy to that information. I just thought, 'Hey it finally came. Where's it been?' I stuck it on the mantle and we kind of move on. Then the last year or two years ago they said, 'Oh no that was not supposed to go to you guys on the set. So we've got to take them all back.' And I was like, 'Well, I'm not at my house in Nashville, you're going to have to go get 'em.' They're like, 'OK. No problem.' They went down and got them and took eight of my 13 of them out of the house."

According to The Athletic, which broke the story in January, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) had discovered fictitious names submitted by ESPN and started recovering the ill-gotten trophies in 2023. College GameDay was reportedly at the center of the scheme.

Herbstreit, listed as an associate producer like his co-hosts, received Emmys under the name "Kirk Henry." In total, more than 30 statues were repossessed by NATAS. Since the rules have since been changed, McAfee and Herbstreit will both get one for this year's win.