Content Machines: Inside Barstool Sports' Efforts Around Super Bowl Week Live radio, digital video, ENG crews help burgeoning media giant shine on the big stage By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, February 6, 2018 - 3:10 pm
Print This Story
Quality vs. quantity: it's the ultimate balancing act for content creators in the modern age. The internet is a beast that cannot be satisfied. In the case of booming digital-media company Barstool Sports, however, the question is not either or but rather why not both.
Barstool Sports set up residency at Cowboy Jacks, a bar in Downtown Minneapolis, for its coverage of Super Bowl Week.
Anyone who follows Barstool Sports knows that the company prides itself on its ability to churn out content at a furious pace, and Super Bowl Week is its grandest stage. All last week, Barstool took over the large Downtown Minneapolis bar Cowboy Jacks to serve as the nerve center for its presence around the big game, highlighted by 10 straight hours of live radio per day via its recently launched channel on SiriusXM.
It's a dramatically different approach from Barstool's effort for last year's Super Bowl, when it garnered loads of attention hosting a nightly linear television show that ran live on Comedy Central throughout Super Bowl Week. Internally, the show was very well-received and deemed a success, but Barstool Head of Media Technology and Production Pete Overmyer believes that this year's return to the company's radio and digital-video roots proved a much better utilization of resources.
I don't think we realized it at the time how much oxygen the TV show sucked out of the room and how much work and attention it took, he says. It caused us to not be able do all the videos and all the content things that we want to do in normally covering a Super Bowl. We [had] time [in Minneapolis], and we're really good at just sitting down and doing the radio. Obviously, it's a difficult technical challenge being in a very crowded bar, but it's not the level of time and commitment that the show needed. I think, in some ways, [this] is more difficult, but we're getting a lot more out of it and definitely driving back to our kind of owned and operated platform, which is huge for us.
Barstool traveled approximately 33 of its own New York-based staff - talent, producers, shooters, editors, technicians - to Minneapolis and didn't tap into the local freelance community. (Says Overmyer, We really believe that we're the only one that can make our content. ) The company did enlist Aspera's FASP software-based file-transfer technology to quickly deliver content both from Cowboy Jacks and ENG shoots around the Twin Cities to the New York offices, where more producers and editors were ready to put the finish touches on content for distribution.
On the first floor of the bar, the company erected a large lounge set, from which the 10 hours of live radio was produced. A radio activation by nature, the stage featured a three-camera shoot with Sony XDCAM PXW X70's feeding into a Newtek Tricaster Mini. The produced show was fed to many of the screens inside the bar and streamed to the NYC offices for editing. Although Barstool was unable to live-stream its radio shows because of SiriusXM's subscription model, editors in New York were able to churn out on-demand content from the shows at a rapid pace.
We look at it as promotion, says Overmyer. If you see that great 4-minute clip of an interview on social, we want you to come and listen to the channel because there is 15 more minutes of that conversation that you didn't get. We do it all day every day from New York, and that was important for us to be able to do that same thing from [Minneapolis], where we're obviously at a higher-profile event and with the guests that we have.
Besides the bar, Barstool also deployed up to seven ENG crews around Minneapolis during Super Bowl Week, capturing content at locations ranging from Radio Row at Mall of America to Super Bowl Live at Nicollet Mall. The camera operators shot content right into their cameras and returned to Cowboy Jacks to drop off cards for transfer of the files via Aspera to New York for final editing.
Barstool Sports' Pete Overmyer's advice for covering a high-profile event: Bring what you can handle, start small, and really think about what you want to do and what you need.
We can basically produce double the content for the staff that we have on the ground, says Overmyer, who was also working behind the curtain in Minneapolis with Studio Production and Digital Broadcast Technician Andrew Manley. Company CEO Erica Nardini was also visible, overseeing the organized chaos.
Although walking through Cowboy Jacks was like fighting your way through a rocking bar in a big college town on a Friday night, it was evident that the significant amount of planning that went into setting the raucous scene was thorough, especially from a technological standpoint. So, what advice would Overmyer give to other digital-media companies that might want to rethink the way they approach content and fan activation experiences at high-profile sports events?
I think it's two-fold, he explains. You've really got to know what you want to cover, what you want to do, what are those angles. We're not in Radio Row - we're not allowed - but that doesn't stop us from being able to find those stories and those interesting things. Even the less sports-focused stuff that we're doing is made more interesting just by our being here. There are interesting people and interesting stories.
On the technical side, Overmyer continues, it's all about figuring out the minimum [resources] you need to do it. If you're smaller and you can't bring a whole crew, then do w
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Liberty University on why broadcast technology isn't just a technical invest...
08/05/2026
COW Jobs: UGC, On-Camera Video Content
Brie Clayton May 7, 2026
0 Comments
UGC, On-Camera Video Content
April 17, 2026Documentary Editor - US,......
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
Content Machines: Inside Barstool Sports' Efforts Around Super Bowl Week Live radio, digital video, ENG crews help burgeoning media giant shine on the big stage By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
