FOX Sports is looking to fight ESPN head for sports TV star power
After Pat McAfee helped to transform College GameDay and Stephen A. Smith inked a massive contract with ESPN, Fox Sports needed an answer.
Fox Sports has partnered with Barstool Sports to combat ESPN’s success[/caption]
Fox Sports will now have a podcast-style show similar to the Pat McAfee Show[/caption]
The network has since found their counter to ESPN’s stars.
Fox Sports is banking on the popularity of social media company Bartstool Sports to help them fight back against ESPN.
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Fox Sports, will now be a regular face on Fox’s premier college football program, Big Noon Kickoff.
On top of that, he will air a weekly Barstool-produced show with personalities like Dan “Big Cat” Katz.
That show is intended to directly compete with ESPN’s Get Up and First Take.
Portnoy’s introduction to the Big Noon Kickoff cast is almost certainly a direct response to the success of McAfee joining College GameDay.
Barstool previously broke into live TV with ESPN, airing a show called Barstool Van Talk in 2017.
It was a spinoff of the podcast Pardon My Take and appeared on ESPN2 for just one episode.
It was immediately canceled after backlash from employees.
“While we had approval of the content of the show, I erred in assuming we could distance our efforts from the Barstool site and its content,” then ESPN president John Skipper said at the time.
It appears that Fox and Barstool won’t have the same issues as ESPN based on a post from Portnoy.
“This is the 1st time in our illustrious and notorious history that we’ve got a (TV) partner we believe in and believes in us,” Portnoy wrote on X.
Fox desperately needs a win in the form of a sports studio show.
Despite restructuring its content months ago, Fox Sports just cancelled multiple shows again.
Speak, The Facility, and Breakfast Ball were all cancelled due to poor ratings.
Fox is looking to match the star power that ESPN’s lineup has[/caption]
Names like Dan “Big Cat” Katz will feature on the new Fox show[/caption]
If Barstool’s new show can get anywhere close to the ratings of First Take or The Pat McAfee Show, it will be a huge success for Fox.
They have a good base to work off to for viewership.
Barstool’s biggest podcast, Pardon My Take, is consistently one of the most popular sports podcasts.
It is currently ranked No. 1 on both Spotify and Apple, with the Pat McAfee show far behind.
If that viewership translates to live TV, Fox could have a big winner on its hands.
