Barstool owner Dave Portnoy reveals they’re 99.9% leaving SiriusXM

Michael Gwilliam
Barstool's Dave Portnoy on SiriusXM

Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy has appeared to confirm that the popular website’s SiriusXM channel will be moving on satellite radio, claiming he was “99%” sure they were leaving.

The satirical sports website announced its SiriusXM channel back in November of 2017 and launched a few months later in January 2018.

Now, however, it seems like the deal is done and so is Barstool.

Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports’ founder took to Twitter to announce that it was looking extremely unlikely that the channel would continue on SiriusXM.

“I’d say we’re 99.9% out of Sirius,” he revealed. “We aren’t in same stratosphere in terms of negotiations.”

“We will just move on to new platforms as always. Our crowd will follow as always,” the Barstool founder added.

It’s unclear exactly where they will move to and Portnoy, who has grown increasingly famous over the years in part to his viral pizza reviews, offered no clues.

Dave Portnoy eats pizza for a review
Dave Portnoy’s pizza reviews have gone viral.

One possible destination spot could very well be Spotify, which shocked the industry by signing Joe Rogan and his podcast to an exclusive deal.

While Portnoy didn’t elaborate on the type of deal he would like, it sounds like he’s being severely low-balled by the satellite radio company, hence his aggressive-sounding tweet.

This news comes as Bloomberg has reported that Howard Stern is nearing a massive $120M a year deal – a step above from his previous deals at $80 to $100 million a year.

If those reports are right, it’s a sign that Sirius XM is willing to pay some serious cash, but apparently not when it comes to keeping Barstool within its network.

“See this is why I can’t work for peanuts,” Portnoy said in response to the Stern report. “I’m not Stern. But I’m not nobody either.”

We’ll just have to see what the future holds for both SiriusXM and Barstool, and if a deal can be salvaged.

About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam