Dave Portnoy Reacts to the Exit of Barstool Sports' CEO

Declan Gallagher
·2 min read
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Dave Portnoy has responded to Erika Ayers Badan stepping down as CEO of Barstool Sports. Badan announced the move Monday in a statement on her X (formerly Twitter) account.

“I am stepping down as the CEO of Barstool,” she began the video. “I feel super sad about it…but it’s been a wild run…They went through 70 candidates, and I think either nobody wanted the job and I did, or they were stupid enough to not see what it could be,” Badan said.

“I thought I could make something of it, and what we made of it exceeded my wildest expectation. We grew the company into something I don’t think anybody thought possible or probable. We did it with our own people and of our own propulsion. Growing a company 5,000 percent in revenue over eight years is awesome,” she noted.

Portnoy took to his own X account on Tuesday morning to applaud Badan for her magnificent work as CEO, but wanted to dispute one claim she made in her video.

"Only correction is everybody wanted the job. We just didn't like anybody except her," Portnoy said. "There is no doubt @erika_ was the perfect and probably only fit for us. It's been quite a run and we couldn't have done it without her. She was everything I dreamed she'd be and more in a CEO.”

Badan began working for Barstool in 2016 when the company was valued at just $15 million and oversaw its $500 million acquisition by PENN Entertainment in 2020. Portnoy purchased the company back from PENN last August for just $1. Under Badan, Barstool entered into lucrative partnerships with major brands such as Coors Lite and Pizza Hut.

As for next steps, Badan is keeping her options open. She plans to assist Portnoy with the transition to a new CEO before taking stock and deciding what comes next. “I’m gonna help Dave as long as he needs me, [and then] I’m gonna go figure out what I wanna build and go do next,” she concluded her statement.

Before her time at Barstool, Badan served on the board of WWE. She’s also the host of Barstool’s Token CEO podcast, on which she proffers business advice.