Major League Baseball Under Fire for Potential Partnership with Barstool Sports: ‘Apparently PornHub Was Not Interested?’

Brandon ContesAug 9th, 2021, 5:11 pm
 

Dave Portnoy

Barstool Sports and Major League Baseball are reportedly discussing a new media partnership, and not all fans are immediately happy about it.

According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, MLB and Barstool have had “significant” discussions regarding a deal to broadcast midweek games. The news comes shortly after Barstool founder Dave Portnoy announced a sponsorship and exclusive broadcast deal with college football’s Arizona Bowl, depicting the potential for more interest in sports media rights.

Last week, Portnoy posted a video on Twitter claiming Barstool has been in talks with at least one of the “four major sports.” MLB now appears to be the focal point, a league that currently has national TV deals with Fox, Turner and ESPN. After agreeing to a new deal with ESPN that begins next year, the network dropped its national broadcasts of Monday and Wednesday night games, leaving MLB in search of a buyer for that slate of games.

On the surface, the business side of using Barstool to broadcast those games makes sense. MLB desperately needs to attract a younger audience who can grow with the game and Barstool does a better job of reaching that demographic.

While it might help make MLB’s audience younger, a partnership with Barstool can also potentially close the door on other demos because of the brand’s history of misogynistic and racist humor.

Joon Lee, who works for ESPN, the network that is dropping those Monday and Wednesday broadcasts, strongly condemned MLB for its talks with Barstool.

“Choosing to partner with Barstool is a business decision that will actively push away some of the fastest-growing fan groups watching baseball,” Lee wrote on Twitter.

“During the 2020 season, MLB saw an 83 percent increase in TV ratings among women watching baseball,” Lee added. “Internal data from MLB — according to sources — shows women being one of the fastest growing groups of MLB fans.”

Although it has improved recently, diversity in MLB broadcast booths has been a problem for the last century. Barstool’s CEO, CRO, CFO, and VPs of production, commerce and communications are roles currently filled by women. Still, Barstool is often viewed as an untouchable outcast among sports media companies, causing many on Twitter to speak out about baseball’s potential partnership.

Tags: