OutKick

Last updated

OutKick
Type Sports news
Format Online
Owner(s) Fox Corporation
Founder(s) Clay Travis
EditorGary Schreier
Staff writers Clay Travis, Tomi Lahren, Dan Dakich, Jonathan Hutton, Chad Withrow, Charly Arnolt, Trey Wallace, Armando Salguero, Bobby Burack, David Hookstead, Joe Kinsey, Geoff Clark, Tyrus
Founded2011;13 years ago (2011)
Political alignmentRight-wing
LanguageEnglish
City Nashville, Tennessee
CountryUnited States
Website www.outkick.com

OutKick is an American sports and political commentary website owned by Fox Corporation. Founded by Clay Travis, the site features news, opinion pieces, and podcasts surrounding sports and popular culture, presented from a conservative perspective. Travis sold the company to Fox Corporation in 2021, with the site integrated into the Fox Sports division. The site also synergizes with Fox News.

Contents

History

Foundation

The site was founded in 2011 by Clay Travis as OutKick the Coverage. [1]

In June 2020, Jason Whitlock, an ex-Fox Sports host, joined the company. As part of an accompanying rebranding, the site's title was also shortened to simply OutKick. [2] [3] Despite buying a one-third stake in the company when he joined, Whitlock quickly entered a feud with the other two owners, Travis and Sam Savage, as Savage had been with the company at the start, and as such never "purchased" a stake in the company. Whitlock spent $500,000 for his stake. Whitlock argued that Savage was not putting his "sweat" into the company, and issued an ultimatum: either Savage invests $500,000 into the company, or he will leave. This investment never came and Whitlock left OutKick in early 2021. [4]

Fox acquisition

Travis sold the company to the Fox Corporation on May 6, 2021, stating that the new ownership of the website will allow it to dramatically grow in size and reach a broader audience. [5] Variety assessed that the purchase was for Fox to have a rival to Barstool Sports, which also saw a massive increase in internet popularity from 2020 to 2021. [6] [7]

The website hired social media personality Tomi Lahren as a new personality to host its afternoon opinion talk-show in June 2022. [8]

After its acquisition by Fox, OutKick grew from 10 employees prior to the acquisition to over 50, and opened a new larger office in Nashville in March 2023. [9]

On July 31, 2023, Fox News streaming service Fox Nation began to carry OutKick video content, including episodes of its shows OutKick The Show, Tomi Lahren Is Fearless and Gaines For Girls following their premieres on OutKick and YouTube. [10]

On January 25, 2024, it was announced that wrestler Tyrus—a Fox News contributor and regular panelist on its talk show Gutfeld! —would helm a new show for the platform entitled Maintaining with Tyrus. [11] As of 2024, OutKick's annual revenue was estimated at somewhere between $345,000 and $620,000. [12]

Content

OutKick features news and opinion articles relating to sports, pop culture, and sports betting. [1] OutKick describes itself as being a conservative alternative to mainstream sports news outlets that serve the "elite, left-leaning minority instead of the American sports fan", and stated that it aimed to "[expose] the destructive nature of ‘woke’ activism". [13] Travis alleged a liberal bias by ESPN in its reporting on Michael Sam (the first openly gay person to be drafted to an NFL team) and U.S. national anthem protests as examples. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Sports Networks</span> American sports channel group (1996–2021)

Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on March 20, 2019, following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. A condition of that acquisition imposed by the U.S. Department of Justice required Disney to sell the regional networks by June 18, 2019, ninety days after the completion of its acquisition. Disney subsequently agreed to sell the networks to Sinclair; the transaction was completed on August 22, 2019. The networks continued to use the Fox Sports name only under a transitional license agreement while rebranding options were explored. A rebranding cross-partnership with Bally's Corporation took effect on March 31, 2021, and the networks were rebranded as Bally Sports, ending the Fox Sports Networks branding after 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News Corporation</span> American media company (1980–2013)

The original incarnation of News Corporation was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Prior to its split in 2013, it was the world's largest media company in terms of total assets and the world's fourth largest media group in terms of revenue. It had become a media powerhouse since its inception, dominating the news, television, film, and print industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Whitlock</span> American sports journalist (born 1967)

Jason Lee Whitlock is an American sports columnist. He hosts a program for the conservative media company Blaze Media titled Fearless with Jason Whitlock. Whitlock is a former columnist at The Kansas City Star, AOL Sports, Foxsports.com, and ESPN. He was a radio personality for WHB and KCSP sports stations in the Kansas City area. Whitlock played Division I college football at Ball State as an offensive lineman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Root Sports Northwest</span> American regional sports television network

Root Sports Northwest, sometimes branded simply as Root Sports, is an American regional sports network owned by the Seattle Mariners. Headquartered near Seattle in the city of Bellevue, Washington, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Seattle and Portland. It is available on cable providers throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clay Travis</span> American sports journalist

Richard Clay Travis is an American writer, lawyer, radio host and television analyst, and founder of OutKick.

The Big Lead was an American news blog. The website mainly covers sports news, although it also touches on a varying degree of other news topics ranging from politics to pop culture. Launched on February 24, 2006, it was co-founded by former sportswriter Jason McIntyre and his college friend David Lessa. In June 2010, McIntyre sold the site to Fantasy Sports Ventures for "low seven figures." Gannett purchased Fantasy Sports Ventures on January 24, 2012, integrating the site into the digital network of USA Today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blaze Media</span> American conservative media company

Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It is based in Irving, Texas, where it has studios and offices, as well as in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyrus (wrestler)</span> American cable broadcaster and former professional wrestler

George Murdoch is an American cable news personality, actor, and former professional wrestler known by his ring/stage name Tyrus. As a wrestler, he was formerly signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he is a former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. As a cable news personality, he appears on Fox News, and its sister streaming service Fox Nation, primarily as a co-host/panelist on the late-night talk show Gutfeld!, as well as a contributor/fill-in host on other programs. In 2024, Tyrus was named host of Maintaining with Tyrus on the streaming platform OutKick, which is owned by Fox.

Barstool Sports is an American blog website and digital media company headquartered in New York City that publishes sports journalism and pop culture-related content. It is owned by David Portnoy, who founded the company in 2003 in Milton, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomi Lahren</span> American conservative political commentator (born 1992)

Tomi Rae Augustus Lahren is an American conservative political commentator and television presenter. She hosted Tomi on TheBlaze, where she gained attention for her short video segments called "final thoughts", in which she frequently criticized liberal politics. Many of her videos went viral, with The New York Times describing her as "the Right's rising media star". Lahren was suspended from TheBlaze in March 2017 after saying in an interview on The View that she believed women should have legal access to abortion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kat Timpf</span> American television personality and comedian (born 1988)

Katherine "Kat" Clare Timpf is an American libertarian columnist, television personality, reporter, and comedian. She is currently a regular panelist of Fox News Channel's Gutfeld! and appears as a contributor on various other Fox News shows. In 2017, Timpf co-hosted Fox News Specialists alongside Eric Bolling and Eboni K. Williams. As of June 2019, she hosts the Fox Nation show Sincerely, Kat.

Flutter Entertainment plc is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange. It owns brands such as Betfair, FanDuel, Paddy Power, PokerStars, Sky Betting & Gaming, and Sportsbet.

The Next Revolution was a television program that debuted on the Fox News Channel, being broadcast on the channel from June 4, 2017 – May 28, 2023. The hour-long weekly program was hosted by Steve Hilton, who served as a political adviser to former British prime minister David Cameron. The program focused on providing opinion commentary about the right-wing populist movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politicon</span> Defunct American annual non-partisan political convention

Politicon was an annual, non-partisan political convention in the United States. Politicon's vision was to bring "Republicans, Democrats, and people of all political stripes together to banter and spar over the most topical issues in smart and entertaining ways that often poke fun at both sides of the aisle." It has been called the "Comic-Con of politics" and the "Coachella of politics".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Corporation</span> American mass media company, successor to 21st Century Fox

Fox Corporation is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Incorporated in Delaware, it was formed as the portion of 21st Century Fox that was not acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2019. The company is controlled by the Murdoch family via a family trust with 39.6% ownership share, and by Rupert Murdoch himself to the effect of almost 40%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charly Arnolt</span> American sports broadcaster and television personality for OutKick

Charly Arnolt is an American sports broadcaster and television personality for the multimedia platform OutKick. She is a cage side announcer for the UFC, previously is known for her tenure as a sportscaster and ring announcer with WWE from 2016 to 2021, where she appeared under the ring name Charly Caruso. She was a backup host and moderator on ESPN's First Take with Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim, but in April 2023, left ESPN and joined the Clay Travis founded sports, news, and politics platform OutKick.

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<i>The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show</i> American conservative talk radio program

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show is an American radio program hosted by former Fox Sports Radio personality Clay Travis and former America Now/The Buck Sexton Show host Buck Sexton. It is broadcast on over 400 talk radio stations nationwide through syndication by Premiere Networks, and is considered the direct successor of The Rush Limbaugh Show.

<i>The Big Weekend Show</i> TV series or program

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<i>One Nation with Brian Kilmeade</i> American TV series or program

One Nation with Brian Kilmeade is an American television program on that airs on Fox News Channel and is hosted by Brian Kilmeade. The program airs every Saturday at 9 p.m. ET live from Fox News' world headquarters in New York City. The show has been a part of Fox News' lineup since January 29, 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 McCarthy, Michael (May 4, 2020). "Clay Travis Bets Big On Outkick The Coverage's Future". Front Office Sports. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  2. Bleier, Evan. "Ex-Fox Sports Host Jason Whitlock Joining Clay Travis at Outkick". insidehook.com. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  3. McCarthy, Michael (June 30, 2020). "Jason Whitlock Drives New Readers To Rebranded Outkick". Front Office Sports. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  4. Bleier, Evan. "Jason Whitlock Reveals Why He Left Clay Travis and Outkick". insidehook.com. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  5. Bleier, Evan. "Clay Travis Selling Right-Wing Sports News Site Outkick to Fox". insidehook.com. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  6. "Fox Buys Clay Travis' 'Outkick' Sports-News Site". Variety . May 5, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  7. Strauss, Ben. "Clay Travis's Outkick to be acquired by Fox Corporation". The Washington Post . Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  8. Mastrangelo, Dominick. "Tomi Lahren inks deal with conservative media outlet Outkick". The Hill . Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  9. Rau, Nate. "Outkick expands presence in Nashville". Axios . Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  10. "'OutKick' Shows Launch On Fox Nation". tvnewscheck.com. July 31, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  11. Weprin, Alex (January 25, 2024). "Fox News Contributor Tyrus to Host Interview Series for Outkick (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  12. "OutKick Net Worth and Earnings (March 2024)". Net Worth Spot. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  13. 1 2 "Once an Escape, Sports Talk Embraces Politics". The New York Times. February 10, 2024. Archived from the original on February 10, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.