Ryen Russillo reveals new details about 'Barstool Van Talk'

The incredibly shortlived run of Barstool Van Talk is not only a fascinating inflection point where traditional sports media and digital sports media could have bled into each other, but also a pretty gnarly peek into the inner workings of ESPN.

The Barstool Sports collaboration with the Worldwide Leader lasted just one episode before it was canceled over persistent rumblings about the culture and tone at Barstool, especially as it related to founder Dave Portnoy’s alleged past demeaning comments about ESPN talent Sam Ponder .

But in a recent episode of Pardon My Take , the podcast that served as the inspiration for Van Talk , former ESPN Radio host Ryen Russillo opened up about how it felt to be on the other side of that oncoming revolution in Bristol in 2017.

“There was a stretch there where you guys were blowing up, and they’re thinking, like, how do we just hook into this?” Russillo said of ESPN watching Barstool’s rise. “When you guys were walking around … now it’s buzzing. Now it’s every f***ing on-air guy going, ‘what’s going on with those guys? They’re going to be doing something here? What’s up?'”

After hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz and Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger visited the ESPN campus and were friendly with Russillo, two separate suits at ESPN reached out to Russillo to solidify that relationship. One even pitched Russillo on a weekly segment with the two.

However, Russillo said he quickly realized that one of those ESPN execs had already been in touch with the Barstool boys.

“What he was doing is he was actually covering his bases, trying to make me seem like he had nothing to do with giving you guys the opportunity,” Russillo said. “Because I would have been somebody who they would have gone, ‘oh Russillo’s going to be pissed when they get this opportunity.’ And the reality is, that was not an opportunity that I was going to be given. I couldn’t be mad about you guys getting a chance to shine there.”

If it sounds like a complete mess, it was.

There already warring factions under president John Skipper that were either in support of Van Talk or absolutely against the idea of partnering with Barstool, known for a frat-like culture and staring down a history of racism and misogyny on air and behind the scenes. But ESPN management, sensing a massive power shift and content evolution coming, started playing politics.

According to Russillo’s telling, the savviest ESPN execs wanted to align with Barstool without appearing to favor Big Cat or PFT Commenter over existing ESPN talent.

“I just think it’s a management tactic,” Russillo added. “The truth is this is way worse than just, hey we gave these guys a TV show and we know you want a different opportunity.”

Of course, PMT survived to tell the tale and Portnoy now owns Barstool again after taking it private last year. Big Cat and PFT Commenter have one of the biggest sports podcasts in the world … and coincidentally, Ponder is out at ESPN as of last week .

Barstool does have some fairly nasty moments in its history, but the company is a fairly normalized part of mainstream sports culture in 2024.

“The joy in all of the story is that ultimately you didn’t need any of it,” Russillo said.

Maybe top ESPN decision makers should have noticed how big a shift there was among middle management like Russillo did to understand how the industry was changing. Those producers knew Barstool was going to be a big part of the future and wanted a piece of it.

Skipper and ESPN brass didn’t want to align with that culture, with Portnoy’s war of words with Ponder just one of numerous examples. And until the arrival of The Pat McAfee Show in 2023, ESPN never found its replacement.

[ Pardon My Take on YouTube ]

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