Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports are officially out at Fox Sports' "Big Noon Kickoff," and according to Portnoy, Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day are the reason why. The Athletic's Andrew Marchand reported Friday night that Portnoy and other Barstool personalities will no longer appear on Fox's flagship college football pregame show. The decision came just over a year after FOX brought Portnoy into the fold as part of its partnership with Barstool.
Fox has not publicly explained the decision, but Portnoy wasted little time giving his side of the story. "Just was told @AndrewMarchand is about to release an article saying I’ve been put on ice for ["Big Noon Kickoff"]. I haven't seen the article yet, and he didn't call me for a quote, but I can sum it up this way.
Ohio State and Ryan Day [expletive] and moaned to the Big 10 and threatened Fox till they had no choice," Portnoy wrote on X. "Juice wasn't worth the squeeze and frankly I don't blame them. Huge dollars at stake and you have Cryin Ryan throwing temper tantrums and making threats every few days on something I said.
I always knew Ryan Day was soft, but holy [expletive] even I didn't realize he was this soft." More news: Florida Gators Draw Contender Label After Ole Miss Blowout Portnoy's relationship with Ohio State has been rocky for years, to say the least. A Michigan alum and one of the Wolverines' most recognizable supporters, Portnoy has regularly taken shots at the Buckeyes and Day. Last year, he claimed that Ohio State had banned him from their home stadium, though the university pointed the blame back at Fox.
Sources told The Athletic that there was no single incident that triggered the decision to remove Barstool from "Big Noon Kickoff," but that the challenge of combining Fox's traditional college football presentation with Barstool's edgier personality had ultimately become unviable. "The sources briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said there wasn’t one specific reason for the decision’s abrupt timing," Marchand wrote. "But the constant challenge of trying to unite Fox Sports’ more traditional show with Barstool’s persona proved unsustainable." More news: Unlikely Source Offered Help to Oregon’s Dan Lanning After Dante Moore Injury More news: Paul Finebaum Goes Scorched Earth on ‘Complete Fraud’ Lincoln Riley While Fox intends to move forward with its traditional lineup, this doesn't appear to be a complete split between the network and Barstool.
"Wake Up Barstool" remains on FS1, and Barstool's own college football programming is continuing. But the experiment of putting Portnoy and Barstool on Fox's biggest college football pregame show appears to be over.
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