Barstool Sports announced an exclusive marketing partnership with DraftKings just minutes after ending its non-compete agreement with PENN Entertainment. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Just minutes after the end of Super Bowl LVIII, Barstool Sports officially announced its new exclusive marketing partnership with DraftKings. The timing is notable because the Dave Portnoy-owned company had a non-compete agreement with previous owner PENN Entertainment that prevented it from entering into such a deal until the end of the NFL season.
Barstool Sports personalities, including Portnoy, appeared in the video announcement:
A shot of a scene from the film First League is reminiscent of Barstool’s collaboration with DraftKings in 2014, and now the two companies have come full circle.
A Barstool-branded sportsbook that operated in the United States when PENN Entertainment owned Barstool before PENN pivoted and signed a deal with ESPN to launch ESPN Bet. In return, Dave Portnoy bought back the company he founded for just $1 after PENN spent $551 million on the purchase.
Rumors of a connection with DraftKings have been circulating in recent weeks, and the deal is said to be worth in the low eight figures each year.
