The idea that Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy and the Big 12 might be partnering set social media abuzz this past week. But are they partners or are they “partners?”
There’s detective work to be done, for sure. Let’s start with Tuesday and this report from On3’s Ross Dellenger.
Well, that’s not a partnership, right? But many people certainly took it that way, as if an announcement was imminent. This came a week after Ohio State reportedly banned Portnoy from Ohio Stadium for last week’s Texas-Ohio State game, a report OSU later denied. Don’t forget that Portnoy is a Michigan man, and ‘That School up North’ and ‘That School down South’ aren’t exactly buddies.
Portnoy did the “I will neither confirm nor deny” think on social media later that day, reposting Dellenger’s original report.
Again, nothing official, but he hopped on his own show to talk about the “blank canvas,” so to speak.
I, for one, am not interested in what’s in Portnoy’s imagination, if we’re being honest. He was on campus this past weekend at Iowa State for the Cy-Hawk game. He brought his Barstool pre-game show with him, did his work on Big Noon Kickoff, and brought his usual brand of provocateur to the proceedings. I didn’t watch as I had family obligations. Commissioner Brett Yormark did stop by the Barstool set, briefly, to present Portnoy a Big 12 hoodie, hat, bag, and what appeared to be a bottle of an adult beverage, which seemed to seal some kind of deal. His appearance lasted about a minute. It seemed like he had somewhere else to be.
As of now, the league and Portnoy’s Barstool Sports don’t have an “official” partnership. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Portnoy is immensely popular, something that Yormark certainly likes. Portnoy has 3.7 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), millions more on other social platforms, and one of the most valuable brands in sports. He struck one of the savviest deals one will ever see when he sold Barstool Sports to Penn Entertainment for more than $550 million and then bought it back a year later when Penn struck a deal to launch ESPN Bet. Portnoy paid $1. Yes, one dollar. That’s savvy.
But his popularity comes with immense baggage. Dig into his bio, and you’ll find a man who threatened his employees who attempted to start a union, used racist language in online videos, and was accused by several women of sexual misconduct, which led to him suing for defamation and losing (he was never charged with any wrongdoing related to those accusations). Big Noon Kickoff hired him to be their Pat McAfee, who works on ESPN College Gameday. Both are provocateurs, but there is a difference. McAfee’s brand tends to be fun. Portnoy’s brand tends to come with a mean streak. In the same podcast where he talked about his conversation with the Big 12, he cussed out one of his employees for talking over him.
Look, I’ve wanted to cuss out co-workers from time to time, and I swear quite a bit in real life. But I’ve never done that to a co-worker, and I’ve never done that on a radio or TV appearance. It’s not professional. But that’s not really Portnoy’s thing. That’s just who he is, and frankly, he can get away with it because he’s got money. It’s really that simple.
Portnoy’s brand of personality is a devil’s bargain for the Big 12. Yes, he is immensely popular, especially with a demographic of young men that the Big 12 wants to court. His weekend in Ames likely went over very well with the locals. Big Noon Kickoff’s ratings have done well in the first two weeks. But a personality like Portnoy’s is liable to wear out its welcome. It’s also liable to get the Big 12 in trouble at some point, especially if the partnership becomes “official.” That’s why the Big 12 shouldn’t take it that far. I think it’s more likely the league will let “Dave be Dave” until he inevitably does something that has the potential to embarrass the conference. At that point, the league can simply say, “Well, he’s not our official partner.”
Yormark is a risk-taker to be sure. But he’s also pragmatic about that risk. After all, it took the Big 12 and Allstate a year to get a sponsorship deal done — and that’s with a traditional college sports sponsor. I find it hard to believe Yormark would dive headfirst into this without thought or an off-ramp. Plus, I have a hard time believing that all 16 Big 12 athletic directors are on board with this. Sure, they’ll welcome him when he’s there with the Big Noon Kickoff crew because Fox is a Big 12 rightsholder. To me, any association with Portnoy is a risk not worth taking.
He won’t be on Big Noon Kickoff this weekend when it’s at Northwestern. Big Cat is filling in for him. Three weeks into the deal, the headliner is off for undisclosed reasons. One must wonder if it has anything to do with the not-safe-for-work rant about Michigan’s coaching staff after the loss to Oklahoma on Saturday. He posted it to X, and On3 was among the outlets to transcribe it. It was pure, undistilled Portnoy. He didn’t hold back.
The Big 12 would be wise to hold its cards in any partnership with Portnoy. The league could go from pocket aces to a joker as quickly as it takes Portnoy to eat a slice.
