After flexing their muscles in the podcast, digital and sports betting mediums, what terrain is left for Barstool Sports to conquer? The Dave Portnoy-led media empire laid the foundation for their next move earlier this summer when it was announced Barstool would be the title sponsor for the Arizona Bowl in Tucson while also carrying the game’s exclusive broadcast rights. Apparently, that caused quite a ripple with at least one prominent sports league taking notice.
“[We’ve been] talking with major leagues, like the four major sports, ever since we announced the Arizona Bowl. Major leagues being like, ‘Yeah we’ll give you the rights to call games,’” confirmed Portnoy on Twitter. “I’m not going to say which one. We’re looking at it.”
Barstool’s entry into the sports broadcast-sphere marks a significant departure for what began as a mom-and-pop operation based in Boston. But given the climate, Portnoy’s pivot into the arena of live sports, a competitive landscape inhabited by the likes of ESPN, Fox (both under the Disney umbrella), ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal, could prove to be a heady play.
As the industry continues to evolve (the line between content and paid advertising has never been murkier), ESPN and others seem to have figured out that the future of sports media, at least financially, lies in broadcasting rights. It’s why ESPN paid a king’s ransom for SEC football’s Saturday afternoon slot ($300 million) and undoubtedly a factor in the NCAA’s continuing conference realignment.
Though Portnoy declined to give details, ruling out both football (Portnoy has made a lifelong enemy in NFL commissioner Roger Goodell) and baseball (an odd fit for Barstool’s clientele, which pulls largely from the 18-34 demographic) by process of elimination, Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated would wager a guess that the NHL was the league that came knocking on Barstool’s door.
“This is just strictly a guess, but I could see the NHL partnering with Barstool. The company’s Spittin Chiclets podcast is enormously successful, and the NHL could use the publicity and jolt Barstool would give it,” wrote Traina. “No matter which league is in talks with Barstool, the fact is, the way viewers consume games is changing in rapid fashion and a priority for every league is to attract new and younger fans.”
After more than a decade on NBC, the NHL is moving its telecasts to ESPN and TNT this season with former Monday Night Football announcer Sean McDonough on the mic for ESPN and Kenny Albert handling TNT’s play-by-play duties. NHL great Wayne Gretzky will serve as a studio analyst for TNT with Gretzky’s former Oilers teammate Mark Messier and three-time Stanley Cup champion Chris Chelios joining ESPN in a similar capacity.
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