Barstool Sports inks Arizona Bowl title sponsorship deal
Penn National Gaming subsidiary nets broadcasting and naming rights to college football game
Barstool Sports has agreed a deal to become title sponsor of college football contest the Arizona Bowl.
Under the terms of the agreement, the game will now be called The Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl and will be broadcast exclusively on the Barstool Sports website and social media channels.
Barstool replaces prior broadcaster CBS, with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy lauding the coup over its rival in typical fashion on social media.
Emergency Press Conference – Introducing The Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl pic.twitter.com/UWo31snw60
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) July 27, 2021
“This marks our first real foray into acquiring TV sports rights,” said Portnoy. “We plan on giving the Arizona Bowl the full Barstool treatment.
“We plan to have an entire week of Barstool Bowl festivities in Tucson leading up to the game, making this one of the most unique and anticipated Bowls in the country, all while maintaining the integrity of the game and raising a ton of money for charity.
“I’ve said many times that our ambition at Barstool is to own the moon. This is a major breakthrough in that regard,” Portnoy concluded.
The deal marks Barstool’s second major agreement in the Grand Canyon State following the expansion of an existing deal with NASCAR for the state of Arizona.
It will see Barstool Sportsbook become the exclusive sportsbook of Phoenix Raceway, which is eligible for one of the 10 wagering licenses available to sports teams in Arizona.
Earlier this week, authorities in Arizona regulated sports betting, with operations to begin in the state on September 9, just ahead of the start of the new NFL season.
Elsewhere, Barstool has hired Las Vegas-based sports analyst and handicapper Kelly Stewart as a new sports betting social media personality.
Stewart, who has more than 125,000 followers on Twitter, is expected to contribute to Barstool Sports with videos, media posts, blog posts, and a podcast.
In May, ESPN confirmed the hire of Stewart as an analyst on its show Daily Wager, only to renege on the hire one month later after tweets emerged from 2012 in which she made several anti-gay slurs.
In a blog post for Barstool, Stewart wrote: “I am in fact the most hated woman in sports gambling. I’ve made a career out of being the villain. And somehow, Barstool Sports still wanted to give me a job. So here I am. And if we’re being honest, I’m not sure why I wasn’t here years ago…”