ESPN made a fascinating hire this week, bringing in sports content creator Katie Feeney as a sports culture and lifestyle host, with a focus on social and digital media. The move was received poorly by certain old-fashioned ESPN audiences. But at Barstool Sports, producer Hank Lockwood had a different take.
During Wednesday’s episode of Pardon My Take, Lockwood noted that the hire of Feeney signified a sea change in the types of people hired by sports companies. More specifically, it demonstrated how a mainstream corporate sports media company like ESPN has shifted toward the blueprint of an independent sports lifestyle brand, such as Barstool.
“I wasn’t surprised by it. It’s not that crazy of a hire,” Lockwood explained. “It’s more crazy to me that, talking 10 years ago, 15 years ago, that ESPN has shifted toward us and not the opposite.”
Not that Barstool needed the boost. The company received the ultimate co-sign last month when it finalized a deal to co-produce a show with FS1 and have its talent appear on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff college football pregame show.
Barstool has come a long way since 2017, when Barstool Van Talk lasted just one episode on ESPN2 before past misogynistic comments from founder Dave Portnoy led to internal tensions at ESPN. The show was canceled, seemingly leaving Barstool with a black eye reputationally.
All the while, Barstool continued to churn out reality television-style content and sponsor everything from alcohol to nightclubs to bowl games. They were seen as the college kids’ favorite sports brand, not something to be taken seriously.
That slowly changed as audience taste shifted in that direction. Now, laid-back podcasts and real-life sports content are huge online. Fans flock to personality-driven, interactive sports content far more than traditional news coverage and commentary.
As a result, ESPN pivoted. They hired people like Omar Raja, founder of House of Highlights, and Ari Chambers, founder of highlightHER, and invested more heavily in digital production.
There is still a vast difference between the editorial standards and tone of Barstool content compared with that of ESPN. But the gap is narrowing, and Feeney is indeed a symbol of that evolution.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.