What is Clay Travis' Net Worth and Salary?
Clay Travis is an American sports journalist, former lawyer, and conservative radio and television talk show host who has a net worth of $10 million. In 2011, Clay Travis founded the rightwing sports news website OutKick, and in 2021 began co-hosting the rightwing weekday radio program "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show." Travis claims that he was a lifelong Democratic voter until 2016.
Early Life and Education
Richard Clay Travis was born on April 6, 1979 in Nashville, Tennessee. He attended Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High School as a teenager. For his higher education, Travis earned his bachelor's degree from George Washington University and his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Career Beginnings
Travis began his career working as a lawyer in Tennessee and the Virgin Islands. While living in the Virgin Islands, he gained media attention for going on a "pudding strike" due to his inability to get the satellite television package NFL Sunday Ticket. Travis ate only pudding for 50 days with the aim of forcing DirecTV to carry the package in the Virgin Islands. The effort ultimately failed.
In 2005, Travis started writing online columns for CBS Sports. The following year, he officially gave up his law practice. After leaving CBS, Travis became a writer and editor for the sports blog Deadspin, and then became a columnist for the sports blog FanHouse.
OutKick
Following the acquisition of FanHouse by the Sporting News in 2011, Travis founded the rightwing sports news website OutKick the Coverage. He intended it to be an alternative to mainstream sports media, which he felt was too left-leaning. In 2020, ex-Fox Sports host Jason Whitlock joined the company as a columnist and co-owner, causing OutKick to experience a major increase in popularity. However, he soon got into a feud with the other two owners of the site, and he left OutKick in early 2021. Not long after that, Travis sold the company to the Fox Corporation, allowing it to reach a wider audience. Meanwhile, OutKick's YouTube channel grew considerably, reaching one million subscribers in 2023.
Fox Sports
In 2014, Travis was hired for Fox Sports' weekly college football Saturday pregame show. The next year, he signed a deal to license his entire sports media brand to Fox Sports, and launched a national weekly television show. In 2016, Travis started hosting a national radio program on Fox Sports Radio, and in 2018 began a daily sports gambling television show on Fox Sports and Fox Sports 1.
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Other Radio Programs
Among his other radio programs, Travis previously co-hosted the daily sports radio talk show "3HL" on Nashville's 104.5 The Zone with Blaine Bishop and Brent Dougherty. He served as a host from 2010 to 2014. Travis also hosted a national sports radio show on NBC Sports. Later, in 2021, he began co-hosting "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," which is broadcast on over 400 talk radio stations through syndication by Premiere Networks. The rightwing program is considered the direct successor of "The Rush Limbaugh Show," taking its time slot on many stations.
Political Views
Travis claims to have been a lifelong Democrat prior to 2016. As an undergraduate, he interned for US Representative Bob Clement, and in 2000 worked for Al Gore's presidential campaign. Travis said he voted for Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. However, in 2016, he voted for the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson. Travis's political views became more controversial after that. For instance, he criticized his alma mater Vanderbilt University for its plan to remove the word "Confederate" from its Memorial Hall building, comparing it to the actions of "Middle Eastern terrorists." These comments cost him a promotion deal he had with Jack Daniel's. Travis later drew criticism during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic when he called the disease "overrated" and spread misinformation about it. In the 2020 presidential election, he said that he would be voting for a Republican president for the first time in his life.
Personal Life
With his wife Lara, a fellow Vanderbilt Law alum and former Tennessee Titans cheerleader, Travis has three sons.
