Barstool Sports is suing a former sponsor of its Arizona Bowl game and Pardon My Take podcast over an alleged breach of contract.
The lawsuit, which was first brought to light by Front Office Sports on Friday, alleges that Omega Accounting Solutions and O’Brien Marketing & Sales are in breach of their deal with Barstool to the tune of $4.2 million, plus interest. The original $6 million deal, which would see Omega become the presenting sponsor of the Arizona Bowl and receive ad placements across Barstool’s network, was supposed to see the sports brand receive payments through 2023.
Instead, Barstool alleges in the lawsuit that Omega and O’Brien have ignored invoices for these payments. A majority of the contracted payments remain unpaid, according to the suit.
None of Barstool, Omega or O’Brien responded to an FOS request for comment.
Around the time this partnership was signed, Dave Portnoy purchased Barstool back from Penn Entertainment for just $1 in an historic deal. Soon after, CEO Erika Ayers Badan left the company (and according to the lawsuit, part of the advertising deal included its CEO appearing on Ayers Badan’s podcast). Since this time, Barstool has arguably become as big as ever, signing a major deal with DraftKings and agreeing to a partnership with Fox Sports.
Barstool moved on from running the Arizona Bowl and the Omega advertising deal is over, but now the company is suing to formally compel full payment from the deal dating back two years.
Portnoy will make his first appearance on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff this weekend in Columbus. A few days later, Wake Up Barstool will premiere Sept. 2 on FS1.
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.