The college football season is back, and with it, Pat McAfee’s GameDay tradition.For the past three years, the former NFL punter has offered one lucky fan the chance to land hundreds of thousands of dollars live on the ESPN show.McAfee’s kicking contest has returned for 2026 with a twistGettyAll they have to do is kick a field goal from 33 yards.Since the birth of the GameDay Kicking Contest, it’s been McAfee — one of ESPN’s highest-paid stars — who has stumped up the cash from his own pocket.The Indianapolis Colts legend has given out more than $6 million of his money in prizes and charity donations across his time on the show — but for 2026, things are going to change.He has even challenged Stephen A. Smith to take part in recent days.Pat McAfee reveals huge change to GameDay kicking contestMcAfee hosted his first ‘kicking is easy’ contest of the new season on campus at Louisiana State University on Saturday, September 5. It was also GameDay’s 500th show on the road, and marked its 40th year on the air.The crew were in Baton Rouge to preview No. 11-ranked LSU’s massive clash with Clemson at Tiger Stadium.As expected, McAfee — who has recently landed a new role with Netflix — pulled a fan from the onsite ‘pit’ and outlined the rules of the segment.“This has become something spectacular,” he said.“It started as proof that kicking is not easy. Then people started gaming it, we started having some magical moments.“This environment is electrifying, this is a real pressure moment every single week that I’ve been waiting for all offseason.”McAfee introduced his kicking contest for the first time in 2026 at LSUESPN College GameDayHis first contestant, sadly, missed both his kicksESPN College GameDayMcAfee then introduced his contestant, a construction management major named Bruce, and revealed how the Home Depot is changing things for 2026.“It starts as a $100,000 dollar kick, but this year, we have a massive update,” he teased.“A company that has given millions and millions of dollars to college sports said, ‘We want to help you with this whole thing.’“Home Depot has said they will match anything I put up, for the rest of the season.“Usually companies don’t do blank checks, Home Depot said, ‘We will match anything you say.'”To the shock of the LSU crowd, McAfee then put up $500,000 of his own money, and pledged that Home Depot would match it, to offer Bruce a $1 million kick.View Tweet: https://x.com/StanfordSteve82?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwWith the pressure of the world on his shoulders… Bruce, unfortunately, failed to clear the posts.He was then offered a second chance kick, for half the money, but missed that too.The money put up by both McAfee, and Home Depot, is safe for at least another week.But with more than $6m given away by the former NFL star in recent years, it’s likely the $317 billion company will be racking up quite the bill on GameDay this season.