At TD Garden Wednesday, more than 17,000 fans will be waving their yellow Bruins towels, an in-arena ritual that seemingly every NHL team now employs in some fashion. The towel does not just include the Bruins' brown bear, however. Barstool Sports is sponsoring the towel for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, meaning their logo, complete with the phrase, "Pucks on Net," is located at the bottom of the object.
On Twitter, the Barstool Sports logo is imposed over the picture, making the controversial media company's one-night partnership with the Bruins even more obvious.
As a result, the Bruins are now facing criticism, primarily on social media.
Keys to Game 2: Cycle the puck. Pucks in deep. Pucks on net. Thanks to @barstoolsports and @stoolpresidente for tonight's rally towels. pic.twitter.com/cTcYfJD6L9
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 29, 2019"Lots of great Bruins fans that don't deserve to be associated with barstool, many of whom have been repeatedly harassed by barstool employees and fanboys over the years," tweeted Sportsnet analyst Andrew Berkshire. "The Bruins' PR department should know better."
SB Nation's Blues blog, meanwhile, calls the partnership "shameful." Several female NHL writers, including former WEEI.com Bruins beat reporter Sara Civian, have also expressed disgust with the arrangement, due to Barstool's misogynistic tone and history of social media harassment. Over the years, company founder Dave Portnoy has written posts with the "C-Word" in the headline, told a female employee on camera she'd be too ugly to appear on camera in five years, and inflamed social media harassment campaigns against women who have been critical of the company, such as ESPN's Samantha Ponder and Deadspin's Laura Wagner.
And yet, the company's female employees stand by Portnoy. In an interview with WEEI.com last year, Kayce Smith defended her boss against charges of sexism.
"The biggest frustration I have with the whole thing –– all the hit pieces –– is it's all about taking things in a vacuum," she told me. "Laura Wagner, for example, constantly says things about Dave. She calls him the 'sniffily raisin,' she says all of these things about him. Somehow that's OK, but when he comes back at her, it's not. Again, I'm not going to sit here and defend every single thing that Dave Portnoy has ever done. I don't have to, that's not why I'm here. But at the same time, those things are different than the way women are treated in real life. 'Barstool hates women,' that's an actual headline that's on the Internet right now. 'Barstool is misogynistic, everyone who's at Barstool hates women, or hates black people, or hates minorities,' and it's like, hold on a minute. There's a difference in taking a headline and taking a tweet, and actually talking to people who deal with it on a day-to-day basis."
Company president Erika Nardini, who was hired in 2016, was tasked with cleaning up Barstool's smuttier exterior when she came aboard. The company has reached atmospheric heights under her watch, blossoming to $100 million in value. Barstool's private equity owners, The Chernin Group, have invested an estimated $25 million in it.
Barstool also boasts some of the most popular sports podcasts in the country, including "Pardon My Take," which books big-ticket guests from across the sports world.
And therein lies the quandary professional sports teams, specifically Boston teams, face: Barstool is one of the most recognizable and beloved sports brands for many younger male sports fans and is willing to throw out money for partnerships. However, it carries a distasteful history.
The Patriots have jumped all-in, with Robert Kraft even taking part in Portnoy's "Pizza Reviews." Ex-defensive coordinator Matt Patricia was also spotted wearing Barstool's Goodell clown shirt while walking off the Patriots' plane after Super Bowl LI.
A Bruins PR representative told WEEI.com via email they will "not be commenting on this activation" when asked about the Barstool towel partnership.
On Twitter, Portnoy boasted about his newfound relationship with the Bruins, and the outrage it has generated. "I honestly can't repay the Blue Checkmark Brigade enough. Without their insanity Barstool doesn't become the voice of the rational," he wrote. "The more they complain the more powerful I become. We're like the tides. We keep coming and coming and coming till we wash everybody away."
If anybody is wondering how a now-corporate, $100 million company maintains its relished outsider status, this episode explains it all.
