Last week, Barstool Sports’ new podcast, “Pardon My Take,” drew the notice of ESPN and its lawyers. The network sent a cease and desist letter to Barstool, asking that the name of the show be changed, to avoid any brand or intellectual property confusion with ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption or First Take.
The letter also stated that Barstool’s logo used similar imaging to the logos for PTI and First Take, thus creating the impression that “Pardon My Take” was an ESPN product. As you might expect, Barstool Sports and podcast host PFT Commenter didn’t take very kindly to the legal strong-arming from ESPN. In their view, ESPN didn’t much care for “Pardon My Take” immediately jumping to the top of the sports podcast rankings on iTunes.
But perhaps realizing that there are some legal battles worth fighting and others not worth taking on a giant corporate entity to contest, the latest episode of “Pardon My Take” began with the following disclaimer:
“Pardon My Take is a Barstool Sports production, owned and operated by Chernin Media Group,” the disclaimer began. “There is no affiliation with ESPN and Pardon My Take should not be confused with any of the following ESPN programs: Baseball Tonight, The Beat, College Football Final, College Football Live, College Football Scoreboard, College Gameday, College Gamenight, College Gamenight Midnight Madness, E:60, ESPN FC, MMA Live, Monday Night Countdown […]”
OK, you get the idea. The impressive thing is how many different programs and titles ESPN has come up with over the years. No, check that — actually, the more impressive aspect of that disclaimer is that “Pardon My Take” was able to remember shows like Unscripted with Chris Connolly, ESPN Arena Football Monday and Beg Borrow & Deal. Excellent research work by the Barstool Sports legal team in crafting that disclaimer. Perhaps they shouldn’t be underestimated next time ESPN sends out cease and desist letters.
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About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.