‘Big Ev’ returns to rebranded Barstool show following ‘much-needed’ treatment

Barstool personality Evan “Big Ev” McDowell is officially back in his regular role at Barstool Sports, co-hosting a daily sports show.

McDowell, who stepped away from the company in April following allegations of financial impropriety with bookies and unfulfilled deals with people in his audience first reported by Awful Announcing, posted a video on social media earlier this month detailing his absence. The host acknowledged his addiction had gotten “completely out of control” and revealed he had spent more than a month in a residential treatment facility.

Monday marked McDowell’s return to air on a newly rebranded Sports Central live show from Barstool’s New York studios. And in the opening moments of the episode, McDowell reiterated his remorse for the situation and called the treatment he received “a much-needed thing that had to happen.”

“I’m super happy to be back, been a minute. Everyone that’s watching I’m sure saw the video, saw that I left. I just had to go away to get some help,” he said. “I never meant to harm anybody, never meant to cause any problems, just had a problem that I needed to take care of. I appreciate all the guys in here holding me down … letting me go get help.”

McDowell’s previous show, Picks Central, was one of Barstool’s more popular gambling-focused podcasts and aired on the Barstool Gambling YouTube channel. The revised version of the show is also no longer sponsored by DraftKings, which has a major partnership with Barstool.

The rebrand away from such a clear betting focus would seem to be indicative of McDowell’s continued recovery. An emotional McDowell said he was glad to be back and looking forward.

“This is what I love to do. I love to talk sports,” McDowell said. “I feel good. It was a much-needed thing that had to happen. So I’m glad that it happened so that I can be in a better spot now and move forward with it.”