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Barstool is gonna Barstool. Now it has barstools in a bar.
Remember, this is the organization/social media phenomenon/sportsbook where President, excuse me, El Presidente Dave Portnoy once said the goal was to “own the moon.” The moon is still for sale last I checked, which is listed unofficially as $180 billion.
Regardless, the sports giant took another step closer to planet ownership (perhaps), opening its second official Barstool Bar in Center City, Philadelphia last week, just in time for the Sweet 16 at the Wells Fargo Center.
What’s the deal at Barstool in Philadelphia?
Barstool Sansom Street, the official name, has three different bars with a plethora of televisions and lots of different beers on tap. Portnoy revealed the official opening date on his Twitter.
The bar officially opened March 18 at 11 a.m. the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the first patron was Chuck Lynam, a Temple student who arrived over three hours before doors opened.
There are no sports betting kiosks inside of Barstool Sansom Street, but they are unnecessary with the Barstool Sportsbook app available on mobile devices.
What’s special about Philadelphia?
The concept of an actual, you know, bar fits inside the company’s unchecked ambitions.
Philadelphia seemed like an easy choice for the company to put an actual brick-and-mortar site. Portnoy has done plenty of his famous one-bite pizza reviews around the city, and Wyomissing’s Penn National Gaming partially owns Barstool.
Penn National Gaming CEO Jay Snowden discussed the bars in November 2021, saying they fit in the company’s “omnichannel strategy.” He promised Barstool would continue to differentiate itself from its competitors
“We’ve all seen the incredible level of marketing spend in this space which we all know is not sustainable in a competitive environment. We have not and will not jump into that fray. We are also fortunate to have two dynamic and growing customer acquisition funnels in Barstool Sports and theScore, together with retail casinos and sportsbooks that provide us with highly effective organic marketing opportunities without the need to incur massive losses to compete.”
Where’s the next Barstool bar going to go?
On a recent podcast, Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini stated the company would be opening bars in Arizona and Nashville.
Barstool Sports had taken ownership, naming rights, and broadcast rights to college football’s Arizona Bowl. However, the game had to be canceled because of COVID-19 concerns at Boise State, one of the two teams expected to play.
