It’s the End of An Era At Barstool Sports

So the big news of the day today is that Erika Nardini is stepping down as our CEO.  She’s been at the helm of Barstool for the past 8 years.  During that time she took Barstool from a 12.5 million dollar company to a 600 million dollar company.  From 15 employees (14 if you don’t count Smitty) to 400 employees.   We moved from Milton to Manhattan, from a private company to a public company back to a private company again. Barstool Sports grew into a juggernaut under her watch and leadership.  There really is nothing that I can say that can express just how important she has been to the success of Barstool or how thankful I am. She was the perfect hire for us at the perfect time.  

But my appreciation for Erika really doesn’t have anything to do with how great of a CEO she has been.   Those results speak for themselves.  Instead it’s the loyalty and friendship I’ve had with her basically from the first moment we met.  What I could have never known when I hired Erika was the type of person I hired.  The backbone that she’d have.   The character that’s she reveal time and time again.

Listen Barstool Sports is not for the feint of heart.   During her tenure I’ve basically been called every name in the book.  Controversy has courted us and me at every turn.  I’ve had major hit pieces written about me by Business Insider, HBO, the NY Times just to name a few.   Per my nature my response has usually been “I’d rather burn this thing to the ground than give an inch to our haters'.   That’s a very easy thing for me to say in my position, but not nearly as easy for a CEO dealing with the fallout from advertisers, investors, PR, our own employees and everything else inbetween.   But despite all this do you know how many times Erika has asked me to apologize during her eight years here?  Zero.  Not once.   Never.   

In fact her response during my lowest moments has usually been the exact opposite of what you’d expect from a typical CEO.   It’s never been about how are we going to handle this or damage control or the bottom line but rather  “Hey Dave how you doing…what can I do to help”   She has had my back through every controversy no matter how intense it was.  When investors or clients remained eerily silent or may have wanted to distance themselves from me she never wavered.  She always defended me publicly and privately and seemed to be the loudest when I needed her to be.

She did all this while dealing with her own bullshit that comes with this job.  Things that there is no way she could have foreseen when she took the gig.   That many of her friends would ostracize her for it.   How seemingly every accomplishment she achieved would be downplayed by haters who said she was only hired because she was a woman.   Or just dealing with the Stoolies who can be a vicious bunch at times.   There were so many times over the last 8 years when it would have been easy for her to ask whether it was all worth it. Whether her life would be easier at a less polarizing company.  But she never blinked.

The stormier the seas became the more she dug her heels in.   The people I hated she began to hate and vice versa.   The more doubt and noise we encountered the stronger our resolve became.   You were either with us or against us.  We were equally determined to prove everybody wrong.   People always ask me who made the final decisions at Barstool if we disagreed on something. I’d always answer the same way.  We each respected each other so much that we’d defer to each other even though we rarely disagreed on major issues.  We both saw the world the same way, had the same values, same sense of loyalty and competitive spirit..  I’m obviously sad to see her go, but I know I’ll always have somebody I can count on when I need it and hopefully she knows the same.   Barstool will always be her home.