Barstool, Facebook mutually agree to end ‘Barstool Tailgate Show’ after six weeks

After six weeks, Barstool’s weekly college football show, broadcast live on Facebook each Saturday, is coming to an end.

According to Sports Business Chronicle, Facebook and Barstool agreed to end The Barstool Tailgate Show due to a combination of both viewership and logistics. Facebook told SBC that the decision had nothing to do with Samantha Ponder’s recent comments about Barstool or the broader controversy surrounding the site’s partnership with ESPN.

The Barstool Tailgate Show featured Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, former NFL punter Pat McAfee, and newly hired former FS1 and ESPN personality Julie Stewart-Binks discussing a variety of subjects surrounded by college kids at the site of one of the week’s games. Portnoy acknowledged on his podcast Monday that the show might have aired its final episode.

“The Barstool Tailgate Show, I don’t believe is going to continue due to a scheduling logistics issue. It’s a nightmare getting everybody in and out of a college town every weekend because there’s no airports. But we loved everybody who came and rocked with us.”

It sounds as if the half-hour show was difficult to produce and the viewership (a high of 150,000 people for the second show but less than 80,000 apiece for the next three) did not justify the headache.

Facebook and Barstool both told SBC they plan to continue working together, with Facebook suggesting the Barstool Tailgate Show could come back in a different format and Barstool CEO Erika Nardini calling Facebook “one of our most important partners.”

[Sports Business Chronicle]