Barstool Sports is back on TV.

Eight years after ESPN cancelled a Barstool late-night show, the digital sports media company that has spawned devoted fans and fervent critics is coming to Fox and Fox Sports1 for the upcoming football season.

“Barstool Sports, myself, we are joining ‘Big Noon Kickoff’,” Foudner Dave Portnoy said in a video posted to social media Thursday, referencing Fox’s Saturday morning college football show.

Portnoy has long been a divisive figure in sports media and beyond, building a massive digital following with commentary on an array of subjects, including sports, politics, gambling, finance and pizza. He also has a history of misogynistic and racist comments and has been the subject of sexual misconduct accusations.Now, he will appear alongside Matt Leinart, Urban Meyer and others during college football season. Barstool, meanwhile, will produce a daily morning show for Fox’s cable sports network. As one high-level media executive told The Post: “It’s insane! How can you put (Portnoy) on TV next to Urban Meyer? Of course, I’m going to watch.”

Here’s what to know about this seismic move for sports media.

Industry insiders spoke on the condition of anonymity for this story, to offer candid thoughts without jeopardizing working relationships.

Barstool is officially mainstream

When ESPN launched a show with the hosts of the popular Barstool podcast, “Pardon My Take,” in 2017, ESPN staffers revolted over Barstool’s treatment of women.

Portnoy has made degrading comments about women, including once suggesting some “kind of deserve to be raped.”

The ESPN show was canceled after a single episode. (Portnoy has said many of his comments were jokes.)

Much has changed since then.

As other digital sports outlets have struggled or disappeared, Barstool still claims a rabid fan base of mostly young men who consume content, buy merchandise and show up at events.

It leaned into gambling ahead of others and helped to launch the careers of several media superstars, including Pat McAfee, now at ESPN, and Alex Cooper, among the most popular podcasters in the country. Go to any college football tailgate and you will find Barstool flags flying in the parking lots.

“Pardon My Take,” featuring Dan Katz and Eric Sollenberger (better known as Big Cat and PFT Commenter) is going on a decade as one of the country’s most popular sports podcasts. Portnoy has become the most important pizza influencer in the country.

Barstool’s ESPN show also came during President Trump’s first term, right before the #MeToo movement gained prominence. Trump since has been re-elected, and Portnoy is now a regular guest on Fox News and Fox Business. After the Barstool partnership was announced, one Fox Sports staffer told the Post, “I think from a business proposition this is probably smart, and I don’t love that that is true.”

Personality reigns

ESPN has re-made its business around the industry’s biggest personalities, most notably McAfee and Stephen A. Smith. Portnoy is arguably better at generating attention than either.

“Dave has built a one-of-a-kind brand that connects with a new generation of sports fans — authentic, bold, and original,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said in the company’s announcement.

A buzzword among so many executives today is relevance. Portnoy has mastered the attention economy with more than 9 million followers between X and TikTok. (Katz and Sollenberger each have more than 1 million X followers, too.)

On Fox, Portnoy likely will deliver his share of viral moments, perhaps along the lines of McAfee doing a backflip into the Tennessee River when ESPN’s college football pregame show visited Knoxville.

Networks don’t want to make their own new shows

ESPN licenses McAfee’s show for two hours every afternoon. It will soon license TNT’s pre- and post-game show for its NBA coverage.

Now Fox, after canceling three of its daytime talk shows earlier this month, is turning to Barstool to develop a morning show.

(According to people familiar with the deal, Barstool is building a TV studio in its Chicago headquarters.)

Sports networks are showing a reluctance to develop new programming outside of live sports, outsourcing what used to be a core function of a network. That leaves Barstool a chance to make a morning show that looks nothing like traditional TV. It’s reasonable to assume that whatever Barstool produces won’t look anything like ESPN’s “Get Up” or Fox’s now-canceled “Breakfast Ball,” shows consisting mostly of ex-athletes and talking heads debating the day’s biggest sports stories from behind desks.

Whether Barstool’s fans — and other sports fans — will watch on linear TV is another question. McAfee, for example, has a big digital footprint, but his TV ratings have lagged.