Dave Portnoy, Alexandra Cooper
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images; John Kobaloff/Getty ImagesBarstool Sports is (almost) always making headlines for something — and arguably getting paid well for doing it.
Grace O'Malley She announced her departure from the company in December 2024 after a breakup with her old friend Brianna “Chickenfree” LaPaglia (More on that, here) And since then the tea has been spilled on him What I worked on in the brand.
“I didn't make anything happen while I was there. I had a paycheck and that was kind of it,” O'Malley claimed during a January 2025 appearance on the radio show “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von.” “I had the option to leave, and I took it.”
O'Malley also claimed that former “PlanBri Uncut” podcast host LaPaglia was paid “a little more” than she was.
Dave Portnoy and Brianna “Chickenfree” LaPaglia's friendship has come a long way over the years. Portnoy, 47, founded Barstool Sports in 2003, but LaPaglia, 25, didn't join the team until much later. She began her work with the podcast network in 2020 as an intern. The organization contacted her via social media after her videos (…)
“I never got any money (podcast tour).” She claimed Barstool took her. “I didn't care either. I was happy to be there. I was just impressed to get the job.”
She's not the only Barstool personality who has detailed her salaries over the years:
Grace O'Malley revealed
Following podcast allegations of O'Malley, her former boss (and Barstool founder) Dave Portnoy I shared the numbers. He said in a January 2025 TikTok video that O'Malley's base salary was $175,000 per year and that she received 70 percent of “anything” sold on their personal social media accounts.
Grace O'Malley
Monica Schipper/Getty Images“I got another $75,000 in 2024 that way,” Portnoy continued. “(Her interview) could have been chopped up, or misconstrued a little bit, but it bothers me when people make it seem like they're not getting paid fairly. I think we've handled – as I said from the beginning – Grace and I have been great.
Portnoy addressed the pay gap with LaPaglia as well. He continued: “Berry was a much bigger personality.”
Portnoy explained that once Barstool recovers a character's base salary, they “split every dollar fifty-fifty” from now on. “I don't like it when people make it seem like we're cheating our creators, because we're not,” he added.
KFC promotion
Kevin Clancy (known to Stoolies as KFC) was named Director of Comedy at Barstool Sports in July 2023. He announced the news On his podcast “KFC Radio”. At the time, he indicated that the career move came with a pay increase, but he did not share any details.
Clancy explained that he left his corporate job to take a full-time position at Barstool after learning that he would be paid “living enough,” which was $50,000 at the time.
“I think I started at about 50, and then, whenever I got to $100,000, I think I was like, 'Wow, I've made six figures doing this,'” he said. Elsewhere in the episode, Clancy said his promotion doesn't guarantee a contract negotiation.
“I'm also the only person in the world who started a job with more responsibility without getting a new contract for it,” he joked.
Clancy could potentially make a lot more now as one of the longest-tenured figures in the company.
“Chicks in the Office” talked about contract negotiations
when Rhea Ciofo and Fran Marianowho hosts the “Chicks in the Office” podcast, appeared on Trading Secrets Podcast. In 2021, they pitched inside Barstool regarding the company's contract negotiations.
Francesca Mariano and Maria “Ria” Ciofo
Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesMariano said his second contract with Barstool (in September 2018) was a big moment for podcast hosts.
“It only took one year for us to get a new contract worth double the amount we started with,” she said. “When we heard the number the second time, we said, ‘Oh, this works.’”
Monica Schipper/Getty Images Brianna “Chickenfree” LaPaglia sets the record straight. The podcast host refuted claims that Barstool Sports boss Dave Portnoy paid her $10 million to talk about her breakup with Zach Bryan on “BFFs” last week. During the episode, LaPaglia, 25, made startling allegations about the country singer, including accusing him of emotional abuse. (…)
Ciuffo said their contracts were always “performance-based” by looking at the success of the “Chicks in the Office” brand as a whole. She also noted that all deals her brand gets go through Barstool's sales department.
“I feel like we are being compensated through our salary,” Ciofo said. “I feel stable in the way I receive my salary.”
“Call her father” of all things
The year was 2020 and “Call Her Daddy” was hosted by two people – our now single parents Alex Cooper And the previous host Sophia Franklin. Regular listeners of the podcast wondered if there was drama on the show when the women appeared to speak in code. Then the truth came out.
To spare you all the details after all these years, one issue was that Cooper and Franklin had contract disputes with Barstool before their friendship fell apart.
Cooper told listeners During a May 2020 podcast episode She and Franklin signed a “three-year deal” worth $75,000 in their first year, $85,000 in year two, and $100,000 in year three. They got a raise during their first year together, and then Cooper got an additional pay raise to handle the production side of the podcast as well. (She did not share this with Franklin.)
Alex Cooper
Eugene Gologorsky/Getty ImagesAfter the success of the podcast, women began demanding more money. However, Franklin's then-boyfriend (who eventually began buying the podcast through other networks) allegedly convinced the podcast hosts that they should ask for $1 million. Portnoy heard about the show being shopped around — which led to the infamous “rooftop meeting” between Barstool Sports founder Cooper and Franklin.
The deal they were offered was $500,000 and ownership of the show. Cooper was on board and Franklin was not – and that's how they broke up. Cooper stayed at Barstool until June 2021 and went on to sign huge deals with Spotify and SiriusXM.
