Barstool Sports officially announced its new exclusive marketing partnership with DraftKings just minutes after the end of Super Bowl LVIII. The timing is noteworthy as the Dave Portnoy-owned company had a non-compete with previous owner PENN Entertainment that blocked it from entering into any such deal until the end of the NFL season.
Barstool Sports personalities, including Portnoy, appeared in the video announcement:
The take on a scene from the movie Major League hearkens back to when Barstool previously partnered with DraftKings in 2014 and now the two companies have come full circle.
A Barstool-branded sportsbook operated in the US when PENN Entertainment owned Barstool before the PENN pivoted and signed a deal with ESPN to launch ESPN Bet. In turn, Dave Portnoy bought back the company he founded for just $1 after PENN spent $551m to buy it.
Rumors were doing the rounds in recent weeks about a link-up with DraftKings and the deal is reportedly worth in low eight figures each year.