Dave Portnoy Reveals Details About Ryen Russillo Deal with Barstool Sports

Russillo will start at Barstool in October.

Ryen Russillo is headed to Barstool Sports. / RyenRussilloPodcast / YouTube

Ryen Russillo will begin his Barstool Sports era in October. Barstool founder Dave Portnoy confirmed that the Ringer podcaster had officially signed a deal with the company during Thursday's episode of The Unnamed Show with Kirk Minihane and Ryan Whitney.

According to Portnoy, the Ryen Russillo Podcast will be coming to the Barstool network and Portnoy will partner with Russillo on other projects outside of Barstool. The ability to do other things sounds like what was most appealing to Russillo and Portnoy didn't think it was about money, but said that money was the "primary driver." Minihane and Whitney tried to steer Portnoy towards talking about Russillo's relationship with Bill Simmons, but he didn't seem like he knew any details and didn't want to put words in his new employee's mouth.

Though he did have some choice words for Spotify because Russillo won't be bringing his podcast archives with him to Barstool.

"He's hired." - @stoolpresidente on @ryenarussillo https://t.co/ug7hEJselD pic.twitter.com/LK1TDAbKI0

— The Unnamed Show (@barstoolunnamed) September 4, 2025

"He has a gigantic podcast," said Portnoy. "I think we're going to start over, like the feed. I don't think they're giving him the feed. Kind of a d---head move by Spotify, but by all accounts they could be d---heads if they're not giving it to him."

It might also be worth noting that Portnoy didn't mention anything about Barstool's work with Big Noon Kickoff or the daily Wake Up Barstool show, though Russillo would seemingly be a natural fit on both.

Russillo had been with The Ringer since 2019.

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