Dave Portnoy: Being ‘Nimble’ Has Been Key to Success of Barstool Sports | Barrett Media
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Dave Portnoy: Being ‘Nimble’ Has Been Key to Success of Barstool Sports

“We’ve managed to stay cutting-edge cool for like 20 years. Very hard to do for a media company.”

Jordan Bondurant

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The digital media world evolves and shifts so quickly, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has never seen himself as a big vision entrepreneur.

Portnoy joined The Will Cain Show this week and was asked if he had a grand vision for Barstool or if he was the kind of businessperson that keeps perpetual motion going until success is struck.

Dave said he was very much the perpetual motion type. With so much happening so quickly online and in the world of social media, it was hard to develop a grand vision for what to expect.

“In my world, we started as a newspaper, and then the internet wasn’t really humming so there was no way to predict it,” Portnoy said.

Not tethering the company to one thing or a small handful of things has allowed Barstool to succeed, grow, and sustain in Portnoy’s eyes.

“The biggest advantage, there’s a bunch of things. Right place, right time, right guy. But we’ve been nimble. Just nimble,” he said. “We’re not stuck in our ways. And a lot of networks that we competed against are the opposite. They’re stuck in their ways, old school, older.”

“I like to say we’re one of the first true digital media companies, and we’ve just reacted quickly and been able to maneuver,” he added. “I think people ask me, what is the best compliment you can give to Barstool Sports. We’ve managed to stay cutting-edge cool, if you want to say it, for 20 years. Very hard to do for a media company. Eventually, you get stale, get old and the next new guy comes. Maybe thanks to Roger Goodell, thanks to whoever, we’ve managed to stay cool.”

While being able to ride the social media and internet media wave, Dave Portnoy did admit he hasn’t always had the exact formula for success. But it’s all about trusting in the people around him to come up with something or find something, make it work and then milk it for what it’s worth.

“I never thought podcasting would be big,” Portnoy said. “I made fun of our guys doing it early. Good for us they kept doing it, and it exploded. So I’m not the end all be all with knowing what works. We also give our talent a ton of freedom.”

“It’s just finding talent and letting them go nuts,” he added.

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Greg Olsen: Aspirations are Still to be a No. 1 Analyst ‘Whether at FOX or Elsewhere’

“I’m not just content to be there, I ‘m not just happy to have a seat, I want the top seat and I want that wherever that opportunity allows.”

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Screengrab from Greg Olsen on the Front Office Sports Today podcast
Screengrab from Front Office Sports Today

FOX Sports NFL analyst Greg Olsen was a guest on the Front Office Sports Today podcast. He talked about his new startup company Youth Inc. and also got into the topic everyone wants to know about which is this upcoming football season and him being bumped down to the No. 2 team to make room for Tom Brady.

Host Owen Poindexter asked Olsen if he is approaching his job any differently now that he is longer on the No. 1 team.

“No,” he said. “I have been very clear, on the record, numerous times since I jumped into this field in 2021 following my retirement from playing. My goal is to be the best. My goal is that our crew is looked at as the best. And that’s not just about me, that’s about my partner, that’s about our sideline analyst, that’s about our production team, our producer, our director and the guys and girls in the truck. So, it is something I’m very passionate about, it’s something that I’m very competitive in.

“When I was the No. 2 crew before I said my goal is to be the No. 1. Then I had the opportunity to be elevated alongside a really good friend, Kevin Burkhardt, and be the No. 1 for the last two years and call Super Bowls and call record setting audiences and record setting games and really had a great time doing it. Now, obviously the circumstances have changed with Tom coming and understanding what all the ramifications of all that means. It doesn’t change [what I do], I’m excited to work with Joe. I think that Joe an I’s goal is very much the same. This is not a disrespect to anyone at our network or disrespect to anyone at other networks, but I don’t see our path changing. I think the goal is that we are the best team out there and that’s what we are working towards.

“Hopefully that’s what the public will respond to and hopefully they continue to enjoy our broadcast as they have in the past. Obviously, I’ll miss Kevin, I’ll miss Erin and Tom and some of my really good friends. We talk almost daily if not a couple times a week and they’ll forever be close friends of mine. They were a huge, huge help to my growth. But I’m excited for my new team and I’m excited to grow with Joe and learn each other. My aspirations are still to be a No. 1 analyst whether it’s at FOX or elsewhere and that will never change as long as I do this. I’m not just content to be there, I ‘m not just happy to have a seat, I want the top seat and I want that wherever that opportunity allows. And I’ll never stop working for that. I feel more motivated for that now than ever.”

Olsen also talked about having a conversation recently with Tom Brady and that the two didn’t really know each other on a personal level, they had just been two competitors playing against each other. Now, they have something else in common and both offered to be a resource for the other.

“I’ve had a chance to talk with [Tom] and told him I’ll be as much of a resource as I can. From doing this the last couple of years, maybe I have some insight that would help in his transition. And he has been super grateful and humble coming on board so that process has been great but listen I would be lying if I [didn’t say] I’d love to be that guy calling the Super Bowl this year…My hunger, my approach, my aspirations if anything have just gotten stronger.

“I made it very clear to him I want to be a great teammate, I want to be a great resource at whatever level I can be, and he echoed the exact same sentiment.”

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Dan Le Batard: Inside the NBA is ‘Most Popular Studio Show in the History of Sports Television’

“I believe that studio show still could exist.”

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Graphic for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, a photo of David Samson and a logo for Inside the NBA
Photo Credit: David Samson X Profile

With news coming down earlier today the NBA would soon be formalizing deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon for its media rights after next season, the immediate thought for a lot of NBA fans is more about who is not part of group. That would be TNT, who has had a 40-year history with the league and is also home to the incredibly popular Inside the NBA show led by Ernie Johnson and featuring Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith. Former Marlins president and sports business expert David Samson, who hosts the Nothing Personal with David Samson podcast, joined The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz to talk about the show’s future.

Le Batard began reading the breaking news story from the Sports Business Journal as he brought David Samson in to the conversation. “The best sports studio show there’s ever been, Charles Barkley won another Emmy last night as he always does as part of that show,” Le Batard said. “It would appear that one of the most popular shows in the history of television, not just in sports television, it’s the most popular studio show in the history of sports television. But it ends, right David? How does it get saved? It means next season will be the last, not this season, you’ll get one more year of it. But is there anything that rescues that?”

“Well, you love the people not the show,” Samson replied. “So, the question is, do any of the new networks who have rights to show basketball games, will they try to hire Shaq, Kenny and Charles? And will Ernie follow up on his promise not to leave Turner? And the thought is that he likes his life, he doesn’t necessarily want to leave Atlanta. Could the show continue in Atlanta just for a different network? Is there studio space? Is any of that possible? The answer is yes. So, I think it’s way too early to say Inside the NBA is done…I believe that studio show still could exist.”

Charles Barkley confirmed in a recent interview on ESPN Cleveland that he has an opt-out in his deal should TNT Sports lose broadcasting rights to the NBA. Smith and O’Neal reportedly hold a similar clause.

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Dan Le Batard Breaks the News – NBC Has Contacted John Tesh About ‘Roundball Rock’

“We are actually talking right now about licensing it to them for the Olympics in Paris, which is always great.”

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Screengrab of John Tesh being interviewed by The Dan Le Batard Show
Screengrab: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

While everyone waits with bated breath for an announcement on the NBA media rights partnerships after next season, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz dug in on what has become an important topic amongst basketball fans. If NBC does in fact get its partnership back with the NBA, fans want to know if they plan to re-license the ‘Roundball Rock’ theme song they used for The NBA on NBC from 1990-2002.

Dan Le Batard welcomed the score’s composer, former CBS and NBS sportscaster John Tesh to the show and he confirmed he has spoken to NBC recently.

“Has NBC reached out to you about reviving ‘Roundball Rock’?” asked Le Batard.

“They have actually,” said Tesh. “Nothing firm, but they said, ‘Hey, can you stay frosty on this? … we’d love to talk to you about it.’ We are actually talking right now about licensing it to them for the Olympics in Paris, which is always great.”

Even bigger news came next when Test told the show, “We are actually going in at the end of June, we’re heading to Nashville, we have a full orchestra on hold and we’re going to re-record it. The recording, I think, still sounds great, but I wanted to make a few changes, maybe open up the middle.”

The show played the famous Saturday Night Live skit where Jason Sudeikis and Tim Robinson played the song for show host Vince Vaughn along with Kenan Thompson and Kate McKinnon.

As the guest appearance wrapped, Le Batard said, “…NBC is going to fix all the badwill it creates by ending Charles Barkley’s studio show but replacing it with the glorious remake of [‘Roundball Rock’]”

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