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Barstool Sports is an American blog website and digital media company headquartered in New York City that publishes sports journalism and pop culture-related content. It is owned by David Portnoy, who founded the company in 2003 in Milton, Massachusetts.
 | |
Type of site | Blog |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 2003 Milton, Massachusetts |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Country of origin | United States of America |
| Owner | David Portnoy |
| Founder(s) | David Portnoy |
| URL | barstoolsports |
| Current status | Active |
Launch and growth (2003–2016)
Barstool began in 2003 as a weekly print publication distributed for free at transit stops in the Boston metropolitan area that offered gambling advertisements and fantasy sports projections but later expanded to encompass other topics. It launched on the Internet in 2007.[1] [2] The site was headquartered in Milton, Massachusetts, identifiable with a cardboard sign with the site's name written in ballpoint pen.[1]
Portnoy hired Kevin Clancy in 2009 and launched Barstool New York, the blog's first major move outside the Boston area. Barstool ceased publication of the print version in 2010 and transitioned to a web-only model.[1]
In August 2011, the site received criticism over nude photos of American football quarterback Tom Brady's two-year-old son, which was accompanied by comments describing the size of the child's genitalia, which a former prosecutor suggested was sexualization of a minor.[3] Portnoy argued that the comments were meant to be humorous in tone and were not intended to be seen as sexual.[3] Critics allege that comments on the site by Portnoy and others normalize rape culture.[citation needed] Comments that have sparked debate include a post on a 2010 blog in which Portnoy said "[E]ven though I never condone rape if you're a size 6 and you're wearing skinny jeans you kind of deserve to be raped right?"[4] Other elements that have received criticism include comments such as "we don't condone rape of any kind at our Blackout Parties ... however if a chick passes out that's a gray area".[5] Portnoy, in response, has stated that, "...It's not our intent, with jokes, to poke fun at rape victims," while pointing out the satirical nature of the site's content.[6] A Northeastern University protest group called Knockout Barstool held a demonstration outside of a 2012 Blackout party at Boston's House of Blues.[7] Portnoy has been openly dismissive of the protest group, referring to them as "serial protesters", "nutbags" and "crazy bitches".[4][5][8]
By 2013, Barstool Sports had expanded to five cities, including Philadelphia and Chicago, with a university-focused BarstoolU brand. Each franchise had its own editorial staff and voice and operated autonomously from the main Barstool Sports blog. The blogger team published around 70 to 80 posts each weekday. According to Entrepreneur.com in December 2013, more than four million unique users visited Barstool monthly, with over 80 million page views.[1]
Barstool Blackout Tour
In 2011 and 2012, the BarstoolU brand ran the "Barstool Blackout Tour", a series of electronic dance parties with as many as 2,500 attendees at venues in cities and college towns on the East Coast and in the Midwest.[9] The parties were criticized for promoting excessive drinking and allowing underage drinking, as well as four assaults that have happened at the proceedings.[10] In February 2012, Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino expressed concern through a spokesperson over the parties' promotion of "excessive drinking to the point of blacking out" and that such promotion would not be a good message for the city.[10] Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission agents and club security at a House of Blues event in Boston the following month confiscated 300 fake identifications and refused admission for around three-fourths of the event's 2000 ticket holders.[11] Shortly thereafter Portnoy announced that the company would not be scheduling more of the events in Boston, stating that "it just doesn't seem like Boston is friendly to nightlife of our sort, at least".[11]
The Chernin Group investment (2016–2020)
By 2016, Barstool claimed to pull in 250 million views per month.[12] On January 7, 2016, private equity firm The Chernin Group (TCG) purchased a 51% majority stake in Barstool Sports, valuing the company at between $10 and $15 million.[12][13][14] According to Chernin Group president of digital Mike Kerns, Kerns was put in contact with Portnoy via mutual friend and former University of Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen. After an initial phone call, Kerns flew to Boston to have dinner with Portnoy, discuss the Barstool vision, and begin preliminary investment talks.[15]
Following the TCG investment, the company moved its headquarters from Boston to New York City. Portnoy continued to run the site and retained complete creative control as Chief of Content. On July 19, 2016, Erika Nardini, former chief marketing officer of AOL, was announced as the CEO of Barstool Sports.[12] In 2020, Chernin relinquished control of Barstool as part of the Penn National Gaming partnership.
During the week of Super Bowl LI, Barstool broadcast a televised version of The Barstool Rundown live from Houston on Comedy Central.[16] The show made headlines on February 2, 2017, after Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee announced during a segment of that night's episode that he was retiring from the NFL to become a contributor to the site.[17] On June 19, 2017, the site announced that Michael Rapaport would be joining Barstool Sports and hosting a podcast.[18] Rapaport and Barstool quickly ended their relationship in a public feud involving Kevin Durant.[19]
On October 18, Barstool Van Talk debuted on ESPN2. The show starred Pardon My Take personalities PFT Commenter and Dan "Big Cat" Katz. It was canceled after one episode, with ESPN Inc. president John Skipper citing concerns about distinguishing the content of Barstool from that of ESPN.[20] The show's removal came after past statements from Barstool president Dave Portnoy resurfaced, one of which involved calling current ESPN employee Sam Ponder a "slut".[21][22][23]
Following a fundraising round reported in January, Barstool is said to have received a valuation of $100 million. CEO Erika Nardini said The Chernin Group has invested $25 million in the website.[24] On February 18, Michael Rapaport was fired after making a derogatory comment towards the site's fan-base.[25]
On March 28, 2018, NBA player Frank Kaminsky launched a Barstool podcast, Pros and Joes, hosted by himself and three high-school friends.[26]
Penn National Gaming investment and purchase (2020–2023)
According to Vox, Barstool generated between $90 and $100 million in revenue in 2019, with the majority from podcasts, merchandise sales, and gambling deals. On January 29, 2020, casino company Penn National Gaming purchased a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $135 million in cash and $28 million in preferred stock, valuing Barstool at $450 million. Penn National would have the option to pay an additional $62 million in 3 years to increase its stake to 50%. Penn's investment was seen as part of a growing trend of gambling and media companies to partner to capitalize on the anticipated boom in online gambling after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed sports betting in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association.[27][28][29] Following the sale, The Chernin Group maintained a 36% stake in the company.[30]
The company subsequently launched Barstool Sportsbook, a mobile application for sports betting, in Pennsylvania on September 18, 2020. During its first week of operation, it handled $11 million in wagers. In January 2021, the company announced that the Sportsbook would expand to Michigan. Penn National announced that they would be matching all first-time deposits by donating to the Barstool Fund, raising a total of $4,550,280 for Michigan small businesses.[31][32][33]
On July 27, 2021, Barstool Sports became the new title sponsor of the Arizona Bowl and would have exclusive international broadcast rights. The 2021 edition of the game was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the game was played in 2022.[34][35] and featured various Barstool Sports media personalities on commentary and in on-field roles.[36]
In February 2023, Penn exercised its option to pay $388 million and become the sole owner of Barstool.[27]
Repurchase by David Portnoy (2023)
On August 8, 2023, David Portnoy announced that Penn Entertainment had ended its relationship with Barstool Sports and had divested ownership of the company back to him. Penn had announced a $2 billion agreement with ESPN to rebrand Barstool Sportsbook as ESPN Bet, and the sale was intended to relieve Penn of "non-compete and other restrictive covenants" tied to its ownership of Barstool. Portnoy stated, "The regulated industry is probably not the best place for Barstool Sports and the type of content we make". The agreement stipulates that Penn will receive 50% of the gross proceeds of any future sale of Barstool, but Portnoy stated that he planned to maintain his ownership of the site "till I die".[37][38]
On February 11, 2024, Barstool Sports and DraftKings finalized a multi-year sports betting media partnership after the Super Bowl and the termination of Barstool's non-compete with PENN Entertainment. This deal kicked off with a live-streamed free-throw challenge event featuring Barstool talent, where viewers could win part of a $100,000 prize pool.[39] Barstool Sports announced in January of 2024 that they are partnering with Rumble.com.[40]
Barstool was described as the "Bible of Bro Culture" and a must-read for the "dude zeitgeist" for its committed audience of young men, primarily in the 18-35 age demographic, who felt disenfranchised by the mainstream media.[1] Portnoy described the site's topics in 2011 as "sports/smut."[41] The site contains a mixture of podcasts, blogs, and video series featuring company staff in what has been described as "a sort of online reality show: Every office argument and personal-life development was written up and fed to a growing legion of 'Stoolies'."[42] The site is popular among professional athletes as well. Logan Couture claimed that a quarter of players in the NHL read Barstool.[1]
According to The Daily Beast, Barstool has a culture of stealing materials from independent content creators and reposting them without attribution.[43] In March 2019, Barstool was accused by comedian Miel Bredouw of having reposted one of her videos to the site's Twitter account without attribution. After Bredouw eventually refused to rescind her complaint in exchange for $2,000, Barstool filed a counter-claim asking Twitter to reinstate the video, alleging that the take-down was an error.[44][45] Following the dispute, data from Social Blade revealed that on March 6, 2019, Barstool deleted over 60,000 posts from its Twitter account and 1,000 posts from its Instagram account.[46]
Radio
In January, the company premiered Barstool Radio, a daily two-hour show on Sirius XM. The partnership expanded to a 24-hour channel in January 2018, which aired until January 2021.[47][48][49][50] Barstool returned to radio in February 2021 with a daily sports betting-themed show called Barstool Sports: Picks Central, distributed by Westwood One.[51]
Podcasts
Barstool also produces numerous podcasts, including programming from David Portnoy, Spittin' Chiclets, Pardon My Take, The Kirk Minihane Show, Chicks in the Office as well as podcasts from Barstool bloggers and professional athletes and celebrities such as Deion Sanders, Alex Rodriguez, Josh Richards, Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, Colby Armstrong, Patrick Beverley, Jake Arrieta, Arian Foster, Paddy Pimblett, Molly McCann, Jim Florentine, Jamie Dukes, Taylor Lewan, Will Compton, and Mark Titus.[52]
In 2018, Barstool purchased the Call Her Daddy podcast hosted by Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn, which Cooper then took to Spotify in 2020.[53]
Rough N Rowdy
In November 2017, Barstool purchased the Rough N Rowdy Brawl, an amateur boxing competition held in West Virginia, to expand into live boxing events and pay-per-view. After the acquisition, Barstool created a new division called Barstool Brawl to put on as many as 12 events per year.[54] By the competition's second iteration after the Barstool acquisition in February 2018, it drew 41,000 buys.[55]
Over-the-top media
Barstool offers streaming and Video on Demand content, which is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.[56] In 2021, SLING TV announced an exclusive channel for Barstool Sports.[57] The Brandon Walker College Football Show featuring Brandon Walker is a live call-in show that is part of the Sling TV Barstool channel.[58]
Portnoy is an active blogger on the site under his self-appointed "El Presidente" character. He is also known as "The Mogul" and "Davey Pageviews".[1]
Notable former employees include:
- Pat McAfee, former NFL punter (2016-2018)[59]
- Alex Cooper, podcaster (2018-2020)[53]
- Kat Timpf, political commentator (2016)[60]
- Jenna Marbles[61]
- Dallas Braden
- Paul Lo Duca, former MLB player
- Michael Rapaport, Terry Rozier,[62]
- Frank Kaminsky
- A. J. Hawk, former NFL player (2017)[63]
- Asa Akira
- Willie Colon
- Julie Stewart-Binks[64]
| Police | |
| Veterans | |
| Other |
| Date | Beneficiary | Donations from Merchandise Sales | Donation from Portnoy | Other | Total Donated | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2012 (Veterans Day) | Purchase wheelchair for U.S. Army medic who had lost limbs in Afghanistan | $15,000 | $15,000 | [1] | ||
| 2013 | Victims of the Boston Marathon bombing | $240,000 | $240,000 | [65][66] | ||
| April 2017 | Justin J. Watt Foundation | $55,000 from Pardon My Take listeners, $10,000 from Pat McAfee | $65,000 | [67] | ||
| July 2018 | Family of Weymouth, Massachusetts police officer Michael Chesna | $149,461 | $149,461 | [68][69] | ||
| November 2019 (Veterans Day) | Veterans with mental health needs | $91,000 | $91,000 | $182,000 | [70] | |
| October 2022 | Family of Bristol police officers Dustin DeMonte and Alex Hamzy | ~$100,000 | ~$100,000 | [71] | ||
| February 2024 | LifeLine Animal Project | $277,000 | $277,000 | [72] | ||
| March 2024 | Family of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller | $750,000 | $750,000 | $1,500,000 | [73] | |
| April 2024 | Family of Onondaga County Sheriff Lt. Michael Hoosock | $200,000 | $300,000 | $100,000 from Dana White | $600,000 | [74] |
The company partnered with NFL quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2018 to release a clothing line benefiting Special Olympics Ohio.[75][76]
Due to Portnoy's consistent and longstanding support for first responders, Barstool's work on behalf of fallen police officers has received an overwhelmingly positive response from Barstool's audience and the law enforcement community. This was especially true of his work for Officer Jonathan Diller's widow, Stephanie. In addition to the $1.5 million raised for Diller's family,[77] Portnoy was invited to attend the annual NYPD gala as the guest of honor.[78] However, one notable exception occurred when longtime employee Kevin Clancy weighed in on Diller's murder.[79] Though he encouraged support for the company's efforts, Clancy received significant backlash from Barstool's largely pro-police audience[79] over his past support for the BLM/Defund the Police movement.[80][81]
The company launched "The Barstool Difference," a philanthropy arm pegged to its Barstool Fund in March 2022. The initiative consisted of four parts: one for women-run businesses, one for veteran-run businesses, one for youth service, and one for sobriety. Tonya Dressel of Microsoft's philanthropy effort, was hired to lead the initiative.[82]
Barstool Fund
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related government restrictions, Barstool launched The Barstool Fund, a non-profit that provides financial support to small businesses affected by the pandemic.[83][84] The fund raised $41 million, supporting at least 167 small businesses.[82][85] On top of an initial $500,000 donation from Portnoy, celebrities such as Tom Brady, Guy Fieri, Kid Rock, Aaron Rodgers and Elon Musk donated to the fund.[86]
In August 2019, Barstool owner David Portnoy posted a series of tweets in which he threatened to fire "on the spot" any Barstool employee who contacted a reporter to talk about unionization, as well as reposting a 2015 article in which he threatened to "smash their little union to smithereens" if Barstool employees attempted to unionize.[87] In response, the IWW Freelance Journalists Union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Barstool, alleging that Portnoy had violated federal labor law by threatening retaliation against Barstool employees if they attempted to unionize.[88] In January 2020, Barstool reached an informal settlement with the NLRB in which Portnoy agreed to delete the tweets in question, and which required Barstool to notify employees of their right to unionize.[89] In addition, as part of the settlement Barstool agreed to delete a Twitter account the company had created called "Barstool Sports Union" which had solicited DMs from employees in an apparent attempt to identify union supporters within the company.[88]
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