Dave Portnoy
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Now that it’s an independent company again, Barstool Sports has signed a new media deal with talent agency UTA, which will represent the company, its founder Dave Portnoy and its in-house creators.
The irreverent and often controversial digital sports brand has become popular among young men with a strong presence on social platforms such as TikTok, X and YouTube, and produces a number of podcasts across sports and culture, including a highly popular podcast. Please excuse my opinion.
Barstool was founded by Portnoy in 2003, before selling a majority stake to Peter Chernin’s Chernin Group in 2016. The brand was acquired by casino company Penn Entertainment in 2020 for a total of $551 million.
Just three years later, after inking a deal with ESPN to launch ESPN Bet, Penn sold Barstool to Portnoy for $1.
“For the first time ever, for us, for Barstool, we don’t have to be careful about what we say, how we say it, what we do,” Portnoy said at the time. “We’re back on the pirate ship. And by the way, I’m not selling Barstool Sports. I’m holding onto it until I die.”
The media company then signed a sports betting deal with DraftKings.
Barstool has been pursuing media deals before: The company acquired the rights to several college sports in recent years and streamed the annual NYPD vs. NYPD hockey game.
But since parting ways with Penn, the company has become staff-led and focused on cultural and sports creators.
