Not quite a year after Penn sold Barstool Sports back to founder Dave Portnoy, both the founder and the company have inked another deal.
The free agents have found an agent, signing an encompassing deal with talent agency UTA. The deal includes representation not only for Portnoy but for the entire stables of Barstool Sports products and personalities as well.
When Portnoy regained control of the company, he vowed never to sell it again in the future.
What the deal with UTA does allow for is to find more opportunities for the company to generate revenue. Earlier this year, Barstool agreed to a substantial affiliate deal with DraftKings after parting ways with Penn.
In the past, Barstool has also leveraged partnerships with food and beverage companies. The group works with New Amsterdam Spirits Company on the alcoholic beverage Pink Whitney. There is also a partnership between Barstool and Happi Foodi that produces One Bite frozen pizzas, which capitalize on the popularity of Portnoy’s one bite pizza reviews.
Ostensibly, this deal will look to leverage UTA’s connections to create more cash-generating opportunities for Portnoy and the Barstool family of media content. According to Penn filings, the Barstool Media brand had lost $16 million for the casino company in the first six months of 2023.
At the start of year, Erika Nardini stepped down as the CEO of Barstool Sports. Portnoy said he has no plans of hiring someone else to fill the roll.
To get an idea of how much these podcasts within the network are worth need look no further than Call Her Daddy. After becoming a juggernaut for the company, the two hosts, Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn, stopped production amid contract negotiations with Barstool and Portnoy. Eventually Cooper re-signed while Frankyln departed.
The podcast was later acquired by Spotify in June 2021 for $60 million.
