Barstool Sports

Barstool Sports, Inc. is an American sports and pop culture media company. It began in 2003-2004 in the Boston area as a free four-page print newspaper offering gambling advertisements, sports betting content and fantasy sports projections aimed at young male readers, moved online as a blog in 2007 and ceased print publication in 2010. The company expanded from Boston into other cities, including a New York edition launched in 2009 and, by 2013, operations in five cities including Philadelphia and Chicago, plus a college-focused BarstoolU brand, with each franchise running its own editorial staff.

Today Barstool operates a high-volume blog network and a large slate of podcasts and video programs, including Pardon My Take, The Yak, Mostly Sports, Macrodosing, Fore Play, Spittin' Chiclets, One Bite pizza and food reviews, Surviving Barstool and The Kirk Minihane Show, distributed through its website, apps and video platforms. It also owns the sports blog Old Row and the amateur boxing property Rough N Rowdy, sells merchandise through the Barstool Store, and markets consumer products such as Stella Blue Coffee, whose ready-to-drink cans are sold at Target. Additional activities have included live and televised programming (a Comedy Central version of The Barstool Rundown during Super Bowl LI week and the short-lived Barstool Van Talk on ESPN2), the Internet Invitational YouTube golf event, and The Barstool Fund, a COVID-19 small-business relief effort run in support of the 30 Day Fund.

Ownership has changed repeatedly. The Chernin Group bought a 51% majority stake in January 2016 at a reported $10-15 million valuation; Penn Entertainment bought a 36% stake for $163 million in 2020 and the remainder for $388 million in February 2023; Dave Portnoy repurchased the company in August 2023 for $1 plus gambling non-compete terms and a clause entitling Penn to 50% of proceeds from any future sale.

Founding story

Dave Portnoy, a University of Michigan graduate who had been selling market research at the Yankee Group in Boston, left his job and launched Barstool Sports as a four-page black-and-white print newspaper, funded in part by a $20,000 loan from his father. He rented U-Haul trucks, placed newspaper racks with family help and handed copies to commuters at Boston subway stations, selling ads to local sportsbooks, bars and fantasy sports services. Sources date the launch to September 2003 in Milton, Massachusetts, and to 2004; the publication moved online as a blog in 2007.

Business model

Barstool monetizes an audience built around personality-driven sports and pop culture content through advertising and sponsorships on its site, podcasts and video shows, brand partnerships, merchandise sold via the Barstool Store, consumer product brands such as Stella Blue Coffee, ticketed and live events including the Rough N Rowdy boxing series, and media/distribution deals with partners such as Fox Sports and Netflix.

Advertising and advertising inquiries on the site and its podcast and video network, brand partnerships and sponsorships, direct-to-consumer merchandise and consumer packaged goods (Stella Blue Coffee, sold in retail including Target), events, and content licensing/partnership deals; historically also sports betting partnerships tied to Penn Entertainment.

Traction

By 2016 Barstool claimed 250 million views per month, up from more than four million monthly unique visitors and 80 million page views reported in December 2013. The site publishes dozens of blog posts and long-form video and podcast episodes daily. The Internet Invitational golf event has drawn over 25 million YouTube views, and the company is described as employing more than 400 people. The Barstool Fund raised over $35 million for more than 600 small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Latest developments

In July 2025 Dave Portnoy announced a wide-ranging partnership with Fox Sports under which he became an analyst on the Big Noon Kickoff college football pregame show. The Internet Invitational golf event first aired between October and November 2025. As of August 2026 the site is promoting retail availability of Stella Blue Coffee ready-to-drink cans at Target and continues to publish daily shows including The Yak, Mostly Sports, Macrodosing and Surviving Barstool.