Barstool Sports is (almost) always making headlines for something – and they’re undoubtedly well paid to do just that.
Grace O’Malley announced her departure from the company in December 2024 after parting ways with her longtime partner Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia (more on that, here) and has spilled the beans on what he’s done for the brand.
“I didn’t do anything while I was there. I had a salary and it was kind of like that,” O’Malley said during a January 2025 appearance on the “This Last Weekend w/Theo Von” podcast. “I had a chance to go, and I took it.”
O’Malley went on to say that “PlanBri Uncut” podcast host LaPaglia was paid “a lot more” than he was.
Dave Portnoy and Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia’s friendship has grown a lot over the years. Portnoy, 47, founded Barstool Sports in 2003, but LaPaglia, 25, didn’t join the team until later. He started with the podcast network in 2020 as a student. The organization contacted him through social media after his videos […]
“I have never made money [the podcast tour]. Barstool was taking it,” he said. “I didn’t care either. I was happy to be there. I was happy that I got the job.”
He’s not the only Barstool person to have revealed their salaries over the years:
‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ Contract Talk
During the January 2025 episode of Survival Barstoolquestions arose about Is Compton again Taylor LewanBarstool Sports Contract. Both men, who host the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast, were voted off the show.
“Right now, the ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’ team is in negotiations to secure the next contract fund,” Compton said during his confession. “You’ve got to think, if you’re Dave and Dan, you can’t have the ‘Bussin With the Boys,’ win $250K. Win a quarter of a million dollars and have the power to throw us deuces at the end of the year. So, my hat is off. A tip of the cap. Dave, Big Cat, the big guys of the game.”
Dan “Big Cat” Katz confirmed Compton’s belief in his own Survival Barstool agreeable.
“Dave and I didn’t want Taylor or Will to win $250,000 on Barstool Networks and then be like, ‘Oh, that’s how we’re going to compete,’ two seconds later,” he shared.
Compton previously addressed his contract negotiations during the April 2024 episode of the “Next Up With Adam” podcast.
“In the beginning, [Barstool said] we’ll go 50/50, you guys get the IP. We said no, but we’ll go 60/40 and the minute we cover $1 million it goes up to 70/30 [in] our kindness,” he recalled. “They were riding with it, and I said, ‘F—, I think we—we played ourselves.'”
Compton said their “second deal” with Barstool was a “competitive offering” and the podcast hosts couldn’t shop their show around the world. “I, personally, wanted to resign from Barstool. I think they’re the best brand for us at this point,” Compton said, noting that he and Lewan have had a “profitable” relationship with the brand.
“We end up staying at $3 million mg a year,” he said. “We have the effect of that, every dollar is made after three million dollars.”
Grace O’Malley Reveals
After O’Malley’s podcast claims, his former boss (and Barstool co-founder) Dave Portnoy share the numbers. He said in a January 2025 TikTok video that O’Malley’s salary was $175,000 a year and he earned 70 percent of “whatever” was sold on their social media accounts.
Grace O’Malley
Monica Schipper / Getty Images“He got another $75,000 in 2024 that way,” Portnoy continued. “[Her interview] it could have been cut off, it could be a little misunderstood, but it bothers me when people make it seem like they’re not being paid fairly. I think we handled – as I said from the beginning – Grace is good.”
Portnoy faced the lead gap with LaPaglia again. “Bri was such a great person,” he continued.
Portnoy explained that when Barstool reimburses someone’s salary, it “divides every dollar by fifty-five” going forward. “I just don’t like it when people make it seem like we’re cheating our creators, because we don’t like it,” he added.
Big Cat Becomes a Millionaire
Big Cat shared the April 2024 episode of “The Barstool Rundown” becoming a millionaire around 2018 or 2019.
“Listen, everyone should try it,” he joked.
KFC promotion
Kevin Clancy (known to Stoolies as KFC) was named Barstool Sports’ GM of Comedy in July 2023. He announced the news on his “KFC Radio” podcast at the time and said the move came with a paycheck — but it didn’t. share details.
Clancy explained that he quit his corporate job for a full-time position at Barstool after realizing he would be making “just enough to live on,” which was $50,000 at the time.
“I think I started when I was 50 and, whenever I start to like 100 grand, I think, ‘Wow I made six figures doing this,'” he said. Elsewhere in the episode, Clancy said his promotion did not warrant contract negotiations.
“And I’m the only one—–in the world who started a job with more responsibility without getting a new contract for it,” he laughed.
Clancy probably makes more now as one of the company’s longest-serving employees.
Lil Sasquatch Doesn’t Make 6 Figures
“The starting salary here is less than $100,000 a year,” Sas (real name Harry Settel) said during the June 2023 episode of “The Yak” podcast. “I’m still under $100,000. … I’m just happy to be here, man.”
The comedian said that it has been three years since he started in this company.
Basic Salary Negotiations
Big Cat and Gerard “Jersey Jerry” Gilfone discussed what the starting salary for Barstool workers is during a separate June 2023 episode of “The Yak.”
“I actually don’t know what basic income is,” said Big Cat.
Jerry shared that when he was brought to the company, he started at $100,000. “I think that’s a middle ground, though. I think,” he added. “I think it’s New York.”
During the same conversation, Brandon Walker He revealed that his first salary was $60,000.
“Behind the scenes there’s less money and I think some people are entry level, if you don’t have a following,” one podcast host said. Adam “Rone” Ferrone he explained. “I think if you have a following, you can use it more than Jerry did.”
‘Office Chicks’ Contract Negotiations
When Ria Ciuffo again Fran Marianohosts of the “Chicks in the Office” podcast, appeared on the “Trading Secrets” podcast in 2021, giving Inside Barstool a take on the company’s contract negotiations.
Francesca Mariano and Maria “Ria” Ciuffo
Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesMariano said their second Barstool contract (in September 2018) was a big moment for the podcast hosts.
“It only took us one year to get a new contract that is double the amount we started with,” he said. “When we heard the number the second time, we said, ‘Oh this works.’
Monica Schipper/Getty Images Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia sets the record straight. The broadcaster denied claims Barstool Sports boss Dave Portnoy paid him $10 million to talk about his breakup with Zach Bryan on last week’s “BFFs” podcast. During the episode, LaPaglia, 25, lashed out at the country singer, including accusing her of emotional abuse. […]
Ciuffo said their contracts are always “performance-based” in light of the success of the “Chicks in the Office” franchise as a whole. He also noted that all deals received for their brand go through Barstool’s marketing department.
“I feel like we are being compensated for our salary,” said Ciuffo. “I feel stable in the way I earn.”
The ‘Call Him Daddy’ of Everything
The year was 2020 and “Call Her Daddy” was run by two people – our single father. Alex Cooper and former manager Sophia Franklin. Regular listeners of the podcast have wondered if there is a game on the show where the women are seen talking in code. Then, the truth came out.
To spare you all the details all these years later, one of the problems was Cooper and Franklin having contract disputes with Barstool before their friendship ended.
Cooper told listeners during a May 2020 podcast episode that he and Franklin signed a “three-year deal” making $75,000 in their first year, $85,000 in the second year and $100,000 in the third. They got a raise in their first year together, and then Cooper got another raise to handle the production side of the podcast. (He did not share this with Franklin.)
Alex Cooper
Photo by Eugene Gologursky/GettyAfter the success of the podcast, women started asking for more money. However, Franklin’s boyfriend at the time (who eventually began shopping the podcast to other networks) allegedly convinced the podcast hosts that they should ask for $1 million. Portnoy heard about the buyout plan – leading to the famous “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 wasn’t – which is how they got separated. Cooper stayed at Barstool until June 2021 and went on to sign major deals with Spotify and SiriusXM.
