Barstool Sports announces death of 28-year-old staffer

Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports took a gut shot last week.

On January 29, 2025, Iga Obrycka reportedly passed away.

Obrycka was the general manager of Barstool Nashville. She was only 28 years old.

She’s Gone

Portnoy made national headlines when he made a small fortune selling off Barstool, only to buy it back a few months later for $1.

According to reports at the time, the sale was covered in two transactions.

PENN Entertainment bought a 36% share of the company in 2020 for $163 million, then bought the remainder of the company for $388 million in 2023.

Several months after the deal went through, PENN decided to partner with ESPN for ESPN Bet, which effectively replaced Barstool Sports, so the company sold Barstool back to Portnoy for $1.

Along with Barstool Sports, Portnoy’s claim to fame is his pizza reviews, which always start with, “One bite, everyone knows the rules,” yet he always takes multiple bites before grading the pizza, breaking his own rule.

Portnoy announced the loss of Iga Obrycka on social media, posting, “More sad news in Barstool Family. We suddenly lost Iga Obrycka this week. Iga basically ran our Bar group for us. If you ever went to Barstool Nashville you probably saw her there.

“I would have hired her for any position she wanted at our company because she was that smart and driven. Just incredibly sad news and another cruel reminder not to take a minute for granted. RIP Iga.”

She was an absolutely stunning young lady, but she was more than just a party girl, with her obituary stating, “She will be remembered as one who turned a helping hand toward the needy and for the countless acts of kindness she had shown; she poured good into every life to whom she came in contact.

“Her legacy is that of selflessness, integrity, and unwavering dedication to the people she served.”

Her cause of death was not released as of this report.

Iga’s death comes after the death of another Barstool staffer, Jonathan Stanko, 32, who reportedly died one year after having been diagnosed with cancer.