The driving force behind Dan Patrick’s decision to retire at the end of his current contract is his desire to hang it up while he’s still great.

It’s been nearly three years since Patrick began the longest retirement tour in sports radio history. And since that announcement, Patrick has maintained he will retire at the conclusion of his current contract in early 2028, following Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta.

Tuesday morning, Nick Wright joined The Dan Patrick Show and noted LeBron James recently talking about his love of the process, explaining he’ll know when it’s time to retire when he no longer loves showing up to the arena five hours before a game or three hours before practice. The comment from James prompted Wright to ask whether Patrick has held onto his radio show for so long because he loves that process more than any other media job he’s had.

“I like the grind. I like the daily,” Patrick admitted. “I come in on Saturday and Sunday when we’re not even on the air. I like starting something, ‘What are we going to do with it? Who are we going to have on? What are the topics?’ And then you go home, and then you start thinking about it again. That every day is what always attracted me.”

Patrick noted that he would never be able to serve as a seasonal broadcaster. Which means when his current contract is up in early 2028, don’t expect Patrick to accept a part-time deal. If he’s going to have a show, it needs to be every single day. And Patrick wants to make sure he retires before he falls out of love with the grind and the daily grind.

“My biggest fear is to not be great at the very end,” Patrick said. “If anything, we’re more aggressive with these last two years than I’ve ever been with this show of what we’re doing, where we’re going, and I said I want to go out that way. I want to make sure that nobody thinks you’re just kind of showing up. That would be the ultimate criticism. That it doesn’t feel like you care as much.

“I probably care more and more. If it doesn’t show on me, then it doesn’t trickle down to The Danettes, where they need to know I’m excited. They need to know I’m happy about something, aggressive. I told them, the last two years, ‘It must be fun.’ We must have fun. That’s all I ask them to do.”

Patrick knows he’s going to retire after Super Bowl LXII in early 2028. The challenge will be convincing himself that it’s time to retire when he retires. Because for Patrick to retire while he’s still great, he needs to do it before he’s actually ready to stop the grind of a daily radio show. And he’s not going to get much outside help, because his listeners will still be rooting for Patrick to break his vow to retire.

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