Barstool Sports Sold Back To Founder, Penn Brokers Partnership With ESPN
Portnoy has no intention of selling Barstool again
ESPN announced they will be launching ESPN BET, in partnership with Penn Entertainment on Tuesday.
The deal means Penn has sold Barstool Sports back to outspoken founder Dave Portnoy, who held an “emergency press conference” on X, formally known as Twitter, to announce he is 100% back in control at the company after 10 years.
“We did this deal three years ago, and I think both parties were like, ‘We’re going to take this to the moon,'” Portnoy said. “And we underestimated just how tough it is for myself and Barstool to operate in a regulated world, with gambling regulators.”
Portnoy said it was a “win-win” situation for both companies since he still owns stock in Penn that he isn’t planning to sell anytime soon. But that wasn’t even the best part for him.
“More importantly for us, for Barstool; for the first time in forever, we don’t have to watch what we say, how we talk, what we do,” Portnoy said. “It’s back to the pirate ship and by the way, I am never going to sell Barstool ever. I’ll hold it ’til I die.”
Penn, which bought 36% of Barstool Sports in 2020 and recently completed its purchase of the company, agreed to go their separate ways with Barstool as the gambling operator signed a new 10-year deal with Disney’s ESPN that will see Penn’s existing Barstool Sportsbook rebranded as ESPN BET this fall.
