Hall of Famer Sanders joins Barstool Sports
It didn’t take long for Deion Sanders to find a new job.
The 53-year-old former NFL star is joining Barstool Sports, as unveiled on the “Pardon My Take” podcast Wednesday morning. Sanders just left NFL Network.
“Now, I have the platform that I can spread what I’ve got to the masses,” Sanders said in a video posted to Barstool’s Twitter. “Barstool has the young generation of fans that I want to help cultivate.”
Sanders’ deal with Barstool came together quickly over the past three weeks as Sanders decided to turn down an NFL Network extension offer that would have cut his seven-figure salary in half.
The Barstool Sports agreement comes with the promise it will be fully supportive of Sanders’ ongoing pursuit of a college football coaching job.
It is a fascinating marriage on many levels as the dynamic Hall of Famer is joining a nemesis of the NFL and a platform that is always in controversy, including recently concerning resurfaced video of its founder, Dave Portnoy, using the N-word.
On the business side, it is another example of the transitioning of sports media personalities to new platforms and entities like Barstool connecting with a younger demographic.
It was born out of Sanders’ sons’ affinity for the Barstool podcast “Million Dollaz Worth of Game,” and negotiated by Barstool’s CEO Erika Nardini and Sanders’ representative Constance SchwartzMorini, the co-founder of SMAC Entertainment.
“This wasn’t a strategy,” Nardini told The Post, who was informed by the hosts of “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” that Sanders had interest in Barstool. “He’s Deion Sanders. You get a text message introducing you to Deion Sanders, you respond to the text. You get on the airplane. It was serendipity more than anything else.”
At Barstool, Sanders will create a new Sunday morning pregame show that will include Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz. Sanders will also have his own podcast called “21st and Prime” and appear on “Pardon My Take.”
“Deion’s passion is coaching,” Schwartz-Morini told The Post. “He loves to go where the kids are and the youth and the 18-35s and that is what Barstool has.”