Report: Fanduel gave ‘massive’ offer to ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’ Will Compton, Taylor Lewan leading to Barstool exit

The duo of former NFL players Will Compton and Taylor Lewan revealed earlier in the week that they’ll be taking their popular Bussin’ With The Boys show away from the Barstool Sports banner, and their next move has come to light.

As Dave Portnoy had alluded to, Compton stated he and Lewan received an offer in their negotiations that they weren’t able to turn down, rather than returning for less at Barstool, although they had immense respect for the company. According to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, the offer in question was from FanDuel.

“There is more clarity on Bussin’ With the Boys’ exit from Barstool Sports,” Glasspiegel reported. “The podcast’s hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan—both ex-NFL players—announced earlier this week they were leaving the platform to be an independent show with an unspecified sponsor.

“Several sources told Front Office Sports that the big sponsor is FanDuel. A rep for the sportsbook declined to comment. By all accounts, the deal was quite lavish.”

While an exact figure hasn’t been reported, the information shared by Compton on the latest edition of Bussin’ With The Boys revealed it was an immense figure, and that’s what it took for the duo to depart Barstool Sports.

“We can start on the surface. What pulled us away from Barstool was we had a massive offer – an offer that, ultimately, we could not say no to,” said Compton, regarding the exit. “Ultimately, it was one sponsor that had a bigger offer than what Barstool was able to put together as a whole. … I wanted (Portnoy) to know we do want to come back and, if you can make this competitive, like, we will still be here. And, ultimately, he couldn’t, he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t go up that high.

“… If you think about taking a hometown discount, you’re thinking, what, a 10 to 20%. If he can get, like, within that range then it’s probably doable. He couldn’t get, like, within 40%.”

Regardless of their fruitful new venture, both expressed openly that they wished that their show could’ve remained with Barstool. They even had a moment of silence at the end of their explanation on the podcast.

Still, only the kind of deal that they received would’ve been able to get them to move on from the brand, and they evidently got it from FanDuel.

“We wanted to stay with Barstool,” said Compton. “Just like when we extended a couple years ago, we wanted to stay with Barstool.”

Lewan added some insight on the matter, as well: “The conversation going into what could be, you know, out there outside of Barstool or Barstool itself was we love being apart of the ecosystem. We love the guys there, the camaraderie, the locker room vibes. Like, Barstool is truly a company, and Dave said it on ‘The Unnamed Show’. Like, people don’t want to leave Barstool for a reason.

“We have, for whatever reason, positioned ourselves to where other people, other, you know, sponsors want to be a part of ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ in a big way. … Someone would have to truly pull us away from Barstool to walk away.”

All told, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan have made a name for themselves in the podcasting world, and it’s evident FanDuel believes they’re worth some big bucks. Whether they can grow into a Pat McAfee-like popularity remains to be seen, but the sky is the limit for the former NFL duo, it seems.

— On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this article.