BarDown is an online media brand ofThe Sports Network (TSN) focused on pop culture and attracting a younger audience. Created in 2014, the website andYouTube content have become one of TSN's most popular segments.[citation needed]
On March 4, 2014, Dave Krikst created the BarDown brand for TSN's web and social platforms, including a YouTube channel, focused on attracting a younger audience.[1] The intent was to merge the pop-culture style ofBuzzfeed with the sports content on TSN.[2] Krikst later described BarDown as "a place where you probably get to practise your craft.”[1] The name BarDown was chosen for its reference to the hockey term and that the "content will come from all sports."[3] The subsidiary originally began solely focused on hockey; they posted viral content and included branded content and advertising on their similarity named website.[2]
In 2019, the main contributors to BarDown content were TSN producers Jesse Pollock, Corwin McCallum, Sam Glisserman, Daniel Zakrzewski, Eric Kirk, and Luca Celebre.[1] As their content developed into YouTube videos, BarDown also gained their own sponsors as a subsidiary[4] and their videos averaged more than 620,000 views.[1] The producers' success from BarDown led them to appear in more traditional TSN coverage such as pregame segments and part-time anchor roles onSportsCentre.[5] Another member of BarDown, Julia Tocheri, went on to hostLeafs Lunch before it was cancelled in 2023.[6] In September 2020, Bardown launched the BarDown Podcast, hosted by McCallum and Zakrzewski.[7] In honour of their five-year anniversary on YouTube,EA Sports added a BarDown-themed jersey in their World of Chel and Hockey Ultimate Team game modes. The jersey had been previously worn by BarDown members at theirbeer league games prior to theCOVID-19 lockdown.[8]On 4 September 2024, Corwin announced he was leaving Bardown.[9] Soon on the same day, he then posted a video to his own new channel talking about why he left.