diff --git a/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral b/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral
index 6b4eac64bd8c67bb8e774aee541dc1f55ab141bc..0cb43133c69468bd47539a4368f5c4b0d0dcad12 100755
--- a/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral
+++ b/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral
@@ -399,6 +399,14 @@ def parse_command_line():
 	if options.likelihood_snapshot_interval and not options.ranking_stat_output:
 		raise ValueError("must set --ranking-stat-output when --likelihood-snapshot-interval is set")
 
+	#
+	# Once we are sure that options.ranking_stat_output is set correctly,
+	# check if it is None and turn it into a list of Nones
+	#
+
+	if options.ranking_stat_output is None or len(options.ranking_stat_output) == 0:
+		options.ranking_stat_output = [None] * len(options.output)
+
 	required_urls = [options.time_slide_file]
 	for svd_bank_set in svd_banks: 
 		required_urls += svd_bank_set.values()