“Earlier This Summer, Fox Sports Ceo Eric Shats Jetted Into Nantucket for a Three Hour Meeting That Wuldy Reshape The Lineup of Fox Sports 1, and Shake Up Its F. SHANKS ‘BRIEF VISIT TO The NEW ENGLAND VACATION DESTINATION WAS TO HELP CLOSE A DAVA Dave Portnoy and HIS”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
SHANKS ‘BRIEF VISIT to the New England Vacation Destination Was to Help Close A Deal with Dave Portnoy and His Digital Media Barstool Sports. Portnoy’s $ 42 Million Compound on Nantucket (The Mospaxive Home Home Ever Sold in the State of Massachusetts WHEN HEN BOUGHT IN 2023) Overlooks The Harbor, WHERE FERRIES BRING VISAT Mainland All Day. All Paid for By His Self-Described “Pirate Ship” of A Media Brand, Which He Had Sold to Penn Entertainment for $ 551 Million, And Bough Back Just AFORS LATERS LATER FORS LATER.
SHANKS ‘VISIT Underscores How The Sands Have Shifted in Media. IT WASN’T THAT AGO THAT TALENT Wuld be Summoned to Meet with Execs in Their New York Offices or Los Angeles Studio Lots. NOW WHEN THERE IS TALENT IN DEMAND, THE EXECUTIIES WILL GO WHERE theying to, Even An island 30 Miles Out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Fox Had Been Chatting with Portnoy for “Five or Six Months,” The Barstoool Founder Said on His Company’s Unnamed Show On July 17, Culminating in the Deal AnnounCed The Same Day, Who Will See See Portnoy Appear Weekly on Big Noon Kickoff and Barstoool Creating A Live Two Hour Show Forn.
“We have that Espn Deal, they didn’t even want to talk to me, right? They Couldn’t Stomach The Sight of My Face,“ Portnoy Sayid on the Podcast, Reference Barstoool Van TalkThe ESPN2 Series That Was Canceled After One Episode After the Network Became Uncomfortable with Comments Made by Talent on Social Media. “[Fox] Wants Our Audience, they Know What Audence We Have, And We’re Going to TRY to Come Up with A Bunch of Things With Them. And it’s a wide-ranging relaction. ”
Dave Portnoy & His Dog Miss Peaches Durying An Interview with Host Jimmy Falllon on July 16, 2025. Getty Images
The World of Media Has Changed, and Authenticity Rules. Being OutsPoken is Even Better, and with Cord-Cutting Wreaking Havoc on TV Viewing, Traditional TV Players Thats that might otherWise bypass their Content.
“Dave has built a One-of-A-Kind Brand Brand Connects with a new generation of the Sports Fans-Authentic, Bold, and Original,“ Said Shats in A Statement. “[Barstool’s] Unique Voice and Loyal Fanbase Makes Them A Natural Fit for Our Evolving Multiplatform Content Strategy. ”
A Lot Has Changed Since Espn Canceled Its Barstoool Show in 2017. Look No Further Than Espn’s Deals with Nfl Player Turned Radio and Podcast Host Pat Mcafee LESS).
McAfee have has Occasonally Found Himself in Hot Water, Like WHEN HECCUSED ESPN EXPN NORBY WILLIAMSON OF “Sabotaging” His Show, Or When RecURRING GUESA MADGERS MADGERS Kimmel and Jeffrey Epstein. Earlier in July, McAfee apologized to an Ole Miss Student Who Was Named in a Viral But False Internet Scandal (Portnoy Also Apologized for Some).
Pat McAfee Is Seen On the Set of the Pat McAfee Show Along Radio Row on February 05, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Getty Images
Sitting on a panel in espn’s commissry in brissary, connecticut Last year, McAfee Exuded Confidentnce as He Parred Questions from Skeptical The Pat McAfee Showan unusual arrangement for a Daily Program.
“We haven’t been kicked off espn yet, i View that as a Success. Now, Granted, We wound Still Justinue Doing Business on Youtube and on Our Tiktok and Everhting Like Like Like ESPN, “McAfee Said. “WHENEVER PEOPLE IN HERE HAV TRIED TO ME FIRED FOR Tcking Clips Out of Context or Quotes Out of Context, and Misrepresented Everything We’re good.
Espn Chief Jimmy Pitaro Said that Has Been Laser Focused On the Problem of “How Can We Resonate With Younger People?”
“If You Look at My Kids, Netflix, Instagram, Tiktok, Fortnite, They’re Incredibly DistraCted. So How Is It That We Can Can Make Programs Like Getha and Firm. Obviously, Pat McAfee Is Very, Very Helpphul there, “Pitaro Said. “I WAS JUST IN A RESEARCH MEETING WHERE OUR FOLKS PRESETED TO ME The RESPONSE THAT YOUNGER POPLE HAVE HAD TO PAT MCAFEE
The Talent Benefits Too. Portnoy told his company’s podCast that are are already Thinking about how fox talent like greg olsen and tom brady couldy participate in Barstool segments ESPN. ”
“Some suits that woldn’t let the clients come on our show before, because we Were Just An Internet Show,“ He Said.
Sports Media, with Its Hot Takes, Fierce Debates and Big Personalities Has Been A Natural Provesting Gund for TVn’s Digital Creator Era (Consider Omar Raja 2020), but there are signs that tv News is the Next Frontier. Brett Cooper, A Popular YouTube Creator Who Blends Entertainment and Cultural Commentary with Conservative Values, Was Sigrated As an on-Air Contribute to Fox News.
“IT’s about connecting with the audience, First and Foremost,“ Says Lauren Petterson, President of the Fox Nation Streaming Service and Head of Talent Development For Fox NEWS. “Brett does that through her cause – which is culture. And the way she does it is also unique, through thoUGHTFul discussion and person Says and What She’s Doing in Her Own Life.
And Skydance Held Conversations with Bari Weiss About Possibly Acquire Her Free Press, Perhaps Bringing The Outspoken Former New York Times Columnist Into the CBS News Fold WHEN IT TAKS OVER PARAMOUNT, IN A BID TO Expand Its Digital Footprint (Or Maybe to Comply with Promises Made to the FCC).
“Skydance Has Made: Statement Approving the Deal. “Skydance Will Also Adopt Measures That Can Root Out Out The Bias That Has UnderMined Trust in the National News Media.”
Weiss, A Frequent Critic of the Mainstream Media, Could Fit That Bill.
And Both Cnn and Msnbc Are In the Midst of A Podcast Expancing Push, with Msnbc Hiring Executives to Beef Up Its Digital Business Ahead of Its Spinout Into Versant Versant Later.
Both Cable News Channels Are Leveraging Their Own Talent, Of Course, But There Are Signs They Looking Elsewhere Too.
Last Year, Podcast Hosts Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway (Someone ALSO KNOWN FOR HIS HOT DAKS) HELD TALKS WITH CNNNNNNNNNNSPARTS.
There is Connet Tissue Between All of the TESE Conversations and Deals. Cultural Currency Is More Likely to be Found Tese Days on YouTube or Spotify, and Viewers of Live Linear TV Tend to Skew Older. With News and Sports of the Last Content Standing, Bringing Over Some of That More Youuthful Audence Could be a Way to Extend the Lifespan of Linear TV as Executives Grapple with
And with YouTube IncreASINGly Taking Over the TV Set, News Executives Are Beginning to Grapple with a World Where The Shows Are Just One of Thousands Being Fed Algormically. Perhaps Its Better to have Those Creaters that Figured Out How to Make that Model Work Inside the House, Before The Whole Thing Collapses Into Itelf.
This story appeared in the July 30 Issue of the Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Click Here to Subscribe.