President Donald Trump does a lot of interviews. He has no problem sitting down and sharing his opinions and thoughts. Most of the interviews are done with well-known media outlets, like FOX News or ABC News, etc. Love or hate the mainstream media, it makes sense that POTUS’s interviews would center around the most familiar news organizations.
But on July 24th, 2020 the Prez sat down for an interview with Dave Portnoy, founder of the wildly successful sports/pop culture blog site, and independent media player, Barstool Sports.
Who is Dave Portnoy, and What is Barstool Sports?
Dave Portnoy would best be described as an American internet celebrity and blogger. He is the founder of Barstool Sports.
Before the launch of the site, Portnoy began working at Yankee Group, an IT market research firm. After four years, he left the company to begin what became Barstool Sports. In 2016, Portnoy reported that The Chernin Group (led by investor Peter Chernin) had purchased a majority stake of Barstool and the headquarters would be moving to New York City.
In 2020, Penn National Gaming purchased a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million. Following the sale, The Chernin Group still maintained a 36% stake in the company, while Portnoy continues to run the site and retains creative control over content.
Barstool actually began as a print publication in 2003, which was primarily distributed in the Boston metropolitan area. It offered gambling advertisements and fantasy sports projections, but later expanded to encompass other topics.
Barstool launched on the internet in 2007. In April 2014, AOL announced that they would be airing exclusive online content from Barstool Sports.
Why Does This Matter?
It matters because Portnoy represents the “everyday common sports dude”. Yes, he is rich. Yes, he is an entrepreneur. But he represents a lot of regular type of guys. He is not an accredited media elitist. The fact that POTUS even sat down with him shows a certain relatability and connectivity that this President seems to have with a large base of voters.
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