Dave Portnoy and other top personalities at Barstool Sports have been a part of Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff college football pregame show for a little over a year. That is now over, with The Athletic reporting on Friday evening that Barstool Sports would no longer feature on the program.
Sources told The Athletic that “there was no smoking gun other than that the constant challenge of trying to unite Fox Sports’ more traditional show with Barstool’s persona proved unsustainable.”
An example of the issues presented by the partnership is Portnoy, a prominent Michigan alum, having disputes with Ohio State, a frequent site location for BNK.
Portnoy took to X to address the situation.
“I can sum it up this way Ohio State and Ryan Day b*tched and moaned to the Big 10 and threatened Fox till they had no choice,” Portnoy posted on Friday night. “Juice wasnt worth the squeeze amd frankly I dont blame them. Huge dollars at stake and you have Cryin Ryan throwing temper tantrums amd making threats every few days on something I said. I always knew Ryan Day was soft but holy sh*t even I didnt realize he was this soft.
“The Barstool College Football will continue on. Maybe we’ll even see you in Columbus where contrary to popular belief most fans love the rivalry and arent p*ssies like Cryin Ryan.”
Earlier this season, Portnoy called Day a “scared little chicken boy” for moving the Buckeyes’ senior day to Week 1.
“That’s what he is,” Portnoy said. “Listen, I’m in Nantucket right now. The word on the street is he bought property here and he looked at a beautiful house that was a million dollars below market price. But you know what?
“It was too close to where I reside. He said, I better get to the other side of that island because I don’t want to see big bad Dave Portnoy walking his dog. They are scared. They are chicken. They have always been chicken. People trying to get on me— this is a guy, when you’re saying Whittingham, who’s a new coach, friends with Urban Meyer, new to the rivalry, people getting on me— this is a guy who, when we beat their brains in like seven straight years, said we got to devalue the game.
“And people coming at me, this is what he said. This is a school and an administration a coach who, when I stepped on campus, had the FBI, DEA, the National Guard, the Army ready to arrest me for being on campus. So, yes, he is scared. He is a scared little chicken.”
Barstool Sports’ overarching partnership with Fox Sports has not dissolved, with Wake-Up Barstool continuing on weekday mornings, and the sides could explore creating new programs.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.