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Taylor Lewan, Will Compton, Dave Portnoy.
Getty Images(3)Contract negotiations are a hot topic, especially when it comes to Barstool Sports personalities.
Podcast hosts of ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’ Will Compton And Taylor Lewan confirmed on Tuesday, January 21 that they are officially parting ways with Barstool after five years.
“What took us away from Barstool was that we had a huge selection,” Compton told the listeners. “In the end, it was an offer we couldn’t say no to.”
Rumors surrounding Compton and Lewan’s future at Barstool began circulating earlier this month when it was reported that the duo was in the process of negotiating a new deal with Barstool. It was suggested that this could hurt their chances Surviving bar stool season 4, which was ultimately won by Ria Ciuffo.
Getty Images (3) Barstool Sports (almost) always makes something in the news – and they are arguably paid well to do just that. Grace O’Malley announced her departure from the company in December 2024 following a friendship rift with longtime best friend Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia (more on that, here) and has since spilled the tea on what […]
“Right now the Bussin’ With the Boys crew is negotiating a bag for the next contract,” Compton said during his speech. Surviving bar stool confessional on January 7. ‘You need to think, if that’s the case Daaf [Portnoy] And Than [“Big Cat” Katz]you can’t let the guys from ‘Bussin With the Boys’ go wild and win $250,000.”
The former footballer, who won season 3 in 2024, was voted off the show shortly after his cohost Lewan.
“Winning a quarter of a million dollars and then potentially throwing the deuces our way at the end of the year,” Compton continued. “So my hat goes off. Tip of the cap. Dave, Big Cat, great gaming guys.
Keep scrolling for more details on the ‘Bussin With the Boys’ podcast:
Who are the ‘Bussin’ with the boys’ hosts?
Compton, a former NFL linebacker, signed with the Washington Commanders as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He joined the Tennessee Titans for a year in 2018 before signing with the New Orleans Saints in 2019 and later the Las Vegas Raiders. He returned to the Titans in 2020 for a second stint before returning to the Raiders at the end of 2021. In September 2023, Compton announced his retirement from professional football.
Lewan, meanwhile, was drafted as a tackle for the Titans in 2014 and remained with the organization throughout his career, which ended in 2023 after being sidelined for the 2022 season with a knee injury.
When did ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’ join Barstool?
Compton and Lewan launched the podcast in 2019 and joined the Barstool Sports network shortly after.
Will ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ Extend Their Barstool Sports Contract?
The duo confirmed during the Jan. 21 episode of “Bussin’ With the Boys” that they are going independent.
“We have a contract to fulfill with Barstool until [the] Super Bowl and that’s one thing we plan on doing is making it all the way through the Super Bowl for Barstool,” Compton said. “It’s not fair to our sponsors to talk about what we’re doing, what our next steps are and who we’re doing it with. Ultimately we go independent. We are exclusive to sponsors, but not exclusive to any network. Ultimately we are independent. We can collaborate with whoever we want and we have creative freedom [and] creative control, which is exactly where ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’ wanted to be from the beginning.”
Stars from Hollywood, sports, comedy and beyond are finding huge financial success as they continue to share stories behind the microphone. As more and more pop culture consumers around the world stream podcasts as voraciously as music, TV and movies, companies like Spotify, SiriusXM and Amazon are willing to pay big bucks to secure top notch […]
Compton spoke about it for the first time Surviving bar stool that the “Bussin’ With the Boys” cohosts were in the middle of contract negotiations before Big Cat confirmed the former NFL star’s speculations.
“Dave and I didn’t want Taylor or Will to win $250,000 in cash on Barstool’s networks and two seconds later say, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re leaving for a competitor,’” Big Cat said at a January meeting. 2025 episode of the competition series.
Portnoy spoke about this further during an episode from “The Nameless Podcast” that same month.
“During filming [Surviving Barstool] I thought we were going to put them down, but when I went in I knew they were evaluating,” the Barstool Sports founder noted. “They had an offer. They said, ‘We’re going to look at the world, see what it is.’”
Portnoy “didn’t want” to hand either of them $250,000 of the game winnings and let them leave the company. When asked during the same podcast episode whether Compton and Lewan would be leaving the company, Portnoy played coy. “I let them deal with it the way they want,” he said.
During the Surviving bar stool final in January 2025, the question remained unanswered.
“When we played that game, I thought they were coming back to Barstool,” Portnoy said. (Surviving bar stool was filmed in September 2024. The contestants returned for a live finale and reunion in January 2025.)
Compton hinted that “negotiations are still ongoing” with the show.
“The ‘Bussin’ future with us has nothing to do with this show,” Portnoy clarified. From now on, Podcast ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’ episodes are still released under the Barstool name.
How much money do the ‘bussin’ make with the boys’ podcast hosts?
Compton spoke about the deals he and Lewan made with Barstool during an April 2024 episode of the series Podcast ‘Next with Adam’.
“Original, [Barstool said] We go for 50/50, you get the IP address. We said no, but we’re going for 60/40 and once we hit $1 million it’ll go up to 70/30 [in] our advantage,” the former athlete explained. “They agreed to it, and then I thought, ‘F…, I think we played ourselves.'”
Their ‘second deal’ with the company was deemed a ‘competitive offer’, meaning they couldn’t buy out their show. Compton said he and Lewan have since formed a “beneficial” partnership with Barstool.
“Personally, I wanted to resign from Barstool. I think they are the best brand for us right now,” said Compton. “Ultimately we end up with a mg of $3 million per year. We have the advantage of that: every dollar earned after $3 million.”