Barstool Sports is an American blog website and digital media company headquartered in New York City that publishes sports journalism and pop culture-related content. It is owned by David Portnoy, who founded the company in 2003 in Milton, Massachusetts.
Barstool began in 2003 as a weekly print publication distributed for free at transit stops in the Boston metropolitan area that offered gambling advertisements and fantasy sports projections, but later expanded to encompass other topics. It launched on the Internet in 2007. The site was headquartered in Milton, Massachusetts, identifiable with a cardboard sign with the site's name written in ballpoint pen.
Portnoy hired Kevin Clancy in 2009 and launched Barstool New York, the blog's first major move outside the Boston area. Barstool ceased publication of the print version in 2010 and transitioned to a web-only model.
By 2013, Barstool Sports had expanded to five cities, including Philadelphia and Chicago, with a university-focused BarstoolU brand. Each franchise had its own editorial staff and voice and operated essentially autonomously from the main Barstool Sports blog. The blogger team published around 70 to 80 posts each weekday. According to Entrepreneur.com in December 2013, more than 4 million unique users visited Barstool each month, with more than 80 million page views