Former NFLers Taylor Lewan and Will Compton are leaving Barstool, as is their hit show, ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’.
Barstool boss Dave Portnoy announced the departure for one of his portfolio’s biggest shows, as well as two of its most identifiable talents, on Friday.
The project was poached by another sports media network, with Portnoy not stating where it was headed. Lewan and Compton have yet to comment on a departure publicly.
Portnoy said he made the ‘most aggressive move’ to retain talent since Barstool’s founding to keep Compton and Lewan on-board.
The amount offered by Portnoy looks to not have been enough to keep the former NFL duo around.
‘It sucks, I told Bussin’ I made what I think was my most aggressive move to keep them. But this is the world that we’re in, really, and we’ve been in,’ Portnoy said.
‘Whether it’s Jenna Marbles, [Alex] Cooper, [Pat] McAfee, them, Caleb [Pressley], there’s always more value for a company taking talent than already here. But they’re like [Jared] Carrabis times a million. They got an offer that was so big, it’s like I can’t [match].’
Portnoy did not disclose how much the offer was to poach Compton and Lewan, or how much he offered to retain them as well.
‘Almost everybody who leaves Barstool says when they leave, “You better make us an offer that isn’t even close to what they are because we want to stay,”‘ Portnoy said.
‘Will wants to stay, Taylor wants to stay, but it’s a compliment to Barstool. People just pillage us. They can’t build people up, they can’t make the stars, it’s Saturday Night Live. We make stars. And if we paid those guys what they wanted, and we paid Cooper what [she] wanted, and we paid McAfee, we wouldn’t have a company.’
The only clue to Lewan and Compton’s future home is his adjacent rant on gambling.
It would also make sense to continue the pattern for former Barstool talent, as McAfee departed for FanDuel, while Carrabis and Pressley both left for Underdog Fantasy.
