Richard Clay Travis (born April 6, 1979) is an American political commentator, journalist, radio host, and television analyst, and the founder of OutKick.
As a political commentator, he and Buck Sexton host The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a three-hour weekday conservative talk show which debuted on June 21, 2021 as the replacement of The Rush Limbaugh Show on many radio stations. Travis has stated that he had never voted Republican before the presidential election in 2016.
In 1997, Travis graduated from Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High School in Nashville. He graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., followed by Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville.
Travis originally worked as a lawyer in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Tennessee. He attracted media attention in late 2004 with his personal blog written while he was living in the U.S. Virgin Islands and working for Dudley, Topper and Feuerzeig. A Tennessee Titans fan, Travis was unable to get NFL Sunday Ticket, the satellite TV package to watch NFL games in the islands, and went on a "pudding strike", eating only pudding every day for 50 days, with the goal of forcing DirecTV to carry the package in the Virgin Islands. The effort failed, but he blogged about the experience and received media attention.
Travis began writing online for CBS Sports in September 2005, which for the first year was not paid. In 2006, Travis gave up his law practice for good, and when he returned to Nashville he completed an MFA program in fiction writing at Vanderbilt University.
Later, while writing for CBS, Travis began working on a book, Dixieland Delight, where he visited the football stadiums of the 12 then-current members of the Southeastern Conference. After leaving CBS, Travis became a writer and editor at Deadspin, and then a columnist at FanHouse.
In 2008, Travis worked out at D1 Sports Training with NFL prospects preparing for the NFL draft. He later wrote a ten-part serial about the experience which he titled Rough Draft. He also began a career in radio, initially hosting a sports talk show on Nashville's WGFX with Chad Withrow.
In 2010, Nashville Scene named Travis "Best Sports Radio Host We Love To Hate" in the publication's "Best of Nashville" issue.
After FanHouse was merged into Sporting News in 2011, Travis founded OutKick the Coverage (OTKC). The website later became one of the most visited college football sites on the web. While there, he continued developing his reputation for occasionally "contrarian" opinions and several stories talking about OnlyFans models and adult movie stars.
In 2013, he partnered with Fox Sports, with OKTC being integrated with and cross-promoted by FoxSports.com, and Travis becoming a studio contributor for Fox Sports 1's college football coverage (including Fox College Saturday).
In July 2015, Travis signed a long-term deal with Fox Sports, with roles across television, digital, and radio platforms (including a morning show, OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis, on Premiere Networks' Fox Sports Radio, which launched in 2016).
In 2015, Travis was called out by DeMarcus Cousins for a 2010 prediction he had made that Cousins would be arrested within the next five years. In response, Travis offered to donate to a charity of Cousins' choosing.
In August 2018, Travis began hosting Lock it In, a sports betting studio show on FS1.
On May 5, 2021, Travis sold OutKick Media to Fox Corporation.
On May 27, 2021, Travis announced that he would leave Fox Sports Radio and begin hosting a conservative talk radio show for Premiere with Buck Sexton, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. The show was positioned by Premiere as a spiritual successor to The Rush Limbaugh Show, which concluded earlier in the year after host Rush Limbaugh died of lung cancer.
On September 17, 2025, Travis began hosting the weekly series OutKick the Show, for FS1.
In June 2026, Travis announced that he would step down as head of OutKick, but would remain a Fox News and Fox Sports contributor. Travis stated that "over the past 15 years, with the help of an incredible team and the support from Fox, that goal has been accomplished." The decision came amid the upcoming integration of OutKick into Fox News Digital.
On August 19, 2026, Travis announced a new venture known as Sport & State, which features a similar focus on intersections between sports and politics, and a weekday lineup of streaming programs incorporating The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show and other new shows. Travis explained that "I have a great relationship with Outkick. I just didn’t really want to be an employee, and so this is my new venture." Travis would then renew with Premiere Networks parent company iHeartMedia, with the company handling advertising sales and distribution for Sport & State.