Well, well, well…We’ve been gone for some time now. Too long if you asked me. If you asked others, not long enough. No matter your opinion on the lengthy hiatus, you’re reading this and well, I don’t particularly care why you chose to click. The fact that you did is all I need.
The only real question about the missing time, is what will be longer, the time between blogs, or how long it will take me to remember/reset the password to the website? Editor’s Note: Holy shit! It only took me one try.
Our long layoff aside, it’s time we get back into it here at BO Blogs.
Not sure if you’re on Twitter (or X) whatever the hell it’s called, but Barstool Sports president Dave Portnoy had one of his “Emergency Press Conferences” to make a major announcement about the state of his company. In that video, Portnoy announced that he had purchased Barstool Sports back from Penn National. According to Portnoy, he is now in “total control” of “everything” at Barstool Sports. He also commented that “the regulated sports industry is not the right place” for Barstool.
If you’re like me, and have no mind for business dealings, buyouts and stock prices, all of the financial implications don’t mean a lot. I’m sure some business wonk can tell me 20 reasons why this is a great financial move, and another can give me 20 reasons why this is a bad one. In the grand scheme that doesn’t matter to me.
What is more interesting to me is how this will impact the content that Barstool is putting out.
Not sure about you, but I’ve been very sick of the oversaturation of gambling continent out there. I bitched about that a while back in a blog which you can read here: https://www.blindowlblogs.com/post/not-all-in-on-gambling
Barstool Sports was one of the biggest offenders of the “All in on Gambling” mentality. Almost every show had something to do with sports betting. It was exhausting. Even my guy Kirk Minihane got into the game with his golf gambling podcast.
As someone who doesn’t like to gamble, and actually likes having my money and not tossing it around like I have tons of it to waste, I don’t want to be assaulted with ads and picks. Now that Barstool isn’t owned by a gambling company, the talent there won’t be compelled to make nonsense picks and just go back to creating interesting content. Let’s face it, even if you’re into gambling, do you care what every single Barstool employee is picking this week? No you do not. Even if you do care, be honest with yourself, all the gambling talk is repetitive and straight up boring.
Now I may be blind, but I’m not totally ignorant. I know that there will still be gambling content on Barstool Sports. But instead of it being beaten across every listener's forehead, it will be available to those who want it. This opens the door for more creativity amongst the talent. The Penn National regulators won’t be looming over all the decisions that people make.
I understand there are some complications that come with the whole Barstool Betting App thing, but I don’t have it, so it doesn’t impact me at all. I assume Penn National will just roll the existing platform into theirs. No clue if it’s that simple, but that’s my best guess.
As a whole, this is the best of both worlds. People who want the gambling nonsense will still get it. And, more importantly, the people like me who don’t give a hoot about betting, will get the content back that brought them to Barstool in the first place.