Why OutKick vs Sport & State Competition Could Be Good for Both Brands

· Yahoo Sports

Fifteen years ago, Clay Travis launched OutKick. The outlet was designed to sit at the intersection of sports, pop culture and politics. For years, it drove conversation online about sports and culture from a conservative perspective. It leaned into the passion for college football, took network television talent to task and challenged the establishment. It made Travis a media star — and very rich, too.

Not bad for a guy who was making only $45,000 and had two young kids when he founded the company.

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Earlier this week, Travis launched his second act, Sport & State. A media and content company built to be smart, original, funny and authentic. The content strategy sounds familiar: 70% sports, 15% pop culture and 15% where politics intersects with sports. Travis’ words himself.

In other words, it sounds a lot like the formula that made OutKick successful. Yet Travis insists he doesn’t view OutKick as competition. Instead, he sees the two brands as companions.

I’m not buying it. And frankly, I don’t think Travis should either.

A Hot Start

In business, history is difficult to repeat. Rarely does a second act following significant success rise to the level of, much less surpass, its predecessor. How many sequels are better than the original? That’s the challenge facing Sport & State.

Granted, Travis is starting from a completely different playing field than he was 15 years ago. He has name recognition, relationships, capital, an established audience and years of experience building a media company. The early returns reflect that advantage.

In just 24 hours, Sport & State had nearly 30,000 followers on X, 1,100 on Instagram and 1,500 subscribers on YouTube. Those are numbers many independent startups would love to have.

The company is also launching with infrastructure already in place. It has a title sponsorship with Hard Rock Bet, which reportedly owns 10% of the company. Travis is leveraging partnerships with companies he owns or holds a stake in to drive advertising sales. iHeartRadio is assisting with the advertising effort and selling ads across radio and digital.

The foundation is set. The lineup is in place. Now comes the hard part. Can it compete? The answer is yes. In fact, it already is.

Breaking Away Is Tough

In my opinion, Clay Travis was OutKick. He wasn’t simply the founder, CEO and Godfather of the digital brand. He was its biggest star, its loudest champion and the personality most closely associated with it, even years after selling the company to Fox. That matters.

Personality-driven media brands create a different relationship with their audiences. Followers become attached to the person as much as the logo. There’s history, familiarity and a connection between creator and consumer. It happens in radio, television, and digital media.

Where the star goes, the audience follows. That’s what Travis is betting on with Sport & State.

OutKick is Travis. Travis is OutKick. Johnny Carson was synonymous with The Tonight Show. Dave Portnoy is inseparable from Barstool Sports. Bill Simmons is forever connected to The Ringer. You can sell the company, change the logo, and build a new website. What you can’t do is completely separate a creator from the brand he helped build.

That’s why Travis saying he doesn’t plan to compete with OutKick makes little sense. Of course he’s competing with OutKick.

Blow The Whistle

Sport & State will compete with Barstool Sports. It will compete with The Ringer. It will compete with every digital outlet fighting for sports fans’ attention. But it will compete with OutKick in a uniquely personal way because of the person sitting at the center of both brands. Travis knows his audience. More importantly, he helped create the lane in which that audience lives. Why else would Withrow and Hutton join Sport & State after leaving OutKick, with Travis’ departure coming just a month later? Kelly In Vegas switched platforms, too.

Travis didn’t build a lineup that was completely foreign to his previous audience. He built one that looked familiar. That’s intentional. It’s also smart. Travis is right. OutKick and Sport & State aren’t necessarily Pepsi and Coke. His peanut butter-and-jelly comparison makes sense. But here’s the problem with that analogy: Consumers still have to decide which jar they’re reaching for.

Some people like more jelly. Others like more peanut butter. Either way, they’re making a choice. The same is true with media.

There are only so many hours in a day. Only so much attention an audience can give. Only so many clicks, video views, podcast downloads, social interactions, advertising dollars and subscriptions available to competing companies. Call them companions if you want. They’re still competing for the same shelf space. And that competition could be the best thing to happen to both brands.

Push One Another

OutKick now has a reason to remind its audience why it remains relevant. Craig Carton coming to the brand was a significant addition ahead of Travis’ announcement. The company now has another reason to make sure its content, talent and personality remain compelling.

Sport & State has an entirely different challenge. It has to prove that Travis can build something that stands on its own. Not OutKick 2.0. Not the company Travis wishes he had built the first time. Something new. Both brands now have an incentive. That’s where competition becomes valuable. Competition creates urgency. Travis should understand that better than almost anyone.

OutKick became successful because it didn’t spend its early years trying to be everything to everyone. It identified an audience, understood what that audience wanted and relentlessly pursued it. Sport & State is now attempting to do the same thing. So let it. Sport & State doesn’t need to pretend OutKick isn’t competition. OutKick doesn’t need to pretend Sport & State doesn’t exist. And Travis certainly doesn’t need to convince anyone that two brands built around the same creator, competing for overlapping audiences and talent aren’t going to compete.

They will. The question isn’t whether Sport & State and OutKick are competitors. The question is whether both sides are willing to embrace it. Because competition isn’t necessarily a threat. Sometimes, it’s the thing that makes you better.

If Travis’ second act is as ambitious as his first, the biggest winner may not be Sport & State or OutKick. It may be the audience. Two brands. One crowded marketplace. Two reasons for Travis to keep swinging.

Let them compete.

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John Mamola

John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at [email protected].

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