On media: Dave Portnoy on Big Noon Kickoff creates a precarious situation for Fox and Ohio State
Fox’s pregame show aired Saturday morning from Iowa State, featuring more of Dave Portnoy and less of Dave Portnoy in equally appropriate amounts.
The Barstool founder, who joined the Big Noon Kickoff extravaganza this season, received plenty of airtime inside and outside Jack Trice Stadium throughout the two-hour broadcast. But he avoided the outright animus directed toward a particular school in Scarlet and Gray that defined his appearance last week in Columbus.
Yes, the Michigan alumnus offered a few jabs at the Buckeyes. During a segment in which he fielded questions from social media, for example, Portnoy used a one-liner to mock Ohio State’s academic standards.
But that was the extent of the Buckeye baiting. Perhaps his tempered approach was simply the result of the change in geography — of not broadcasting from outside Ohio Stadium. Or maybe Fox and Big Ten officials quietly asked Portnoy to tone down the rhetoric. Either way, it was the smart move: Continued antagonism of Ohio State and its fans would be a risky long-haul strategy for Fox.
At the corporate level, Fox’s partnership with Barstool makes sense. They mesh politically and culturally. The Barstool irreverence doesn’t make Fox executives squeamish. Barstool’s primary account on the social media platform X has 6.7 million followers; Portnoy himself has 3.7 million.
Also, Portnoy is good at his job, which was a big part of the problem last week.
He’s an unabashed Michigan fan who contributes to the football team’s NIL program and rarely misses a chance to provoke, enrage or mock Ohio State.
That’s not an issue when he’s using Barstool platforms. But the dynamics change when he’s on the Fox set. And last week, Portnoy went 100 yards too far. He charged onto the broadcast outside The Horseshoe singing the Michigan fight song. Later, he wore a T-shirt emblazoned with “still can’t beat Michigan.” At one point, he called Ohio State fans “morons.”
The backdrop to all this? Ongoing frustration among Ohio State constituents over the Buckeyes’ frequent appearances in the Big Noon broadcast window — to the point that it has become a discussion topic within the state legislature.
Our view of the Buckeyes’ Big Noon angst? Too bad. They are cashing a massive paycheck from the Big Ten’s media rights deal in which Fox is the primary partner. It’s smart business to slot your biggest ratings driver into your marquee broadcast window.
But the 12 p.m. kickoffs and Dave Portnoy’s venom are not comparable issues.
It’s reasonable for the Buckeyes to assume Fox should make every effort to work as a good-faith partner. Welcoming Ohio State’s No. 1 antagonist onto the set of the network’s No. 1 show, only to have him call Ohio State fans morons in all his Maize-and-Blue glory does not, in our view, reflect a partner acting in good faith.
The Hotline asked Fox to explain its decision to employ Portnoy given his deep-seeded animus for a member of the conference. Not surprisingly, the network declined to comment.
If so inclined, Fox could argue that another Big Noon Kickoff personality, former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, has no love for Michigan.
But are Meyer and Portnoy equivalents? Not in our view. Meyer is one of the greatest coaches of all time whose job is to analyze games and trends and fill a traditional role on pregame shows, much like Nick Saban does for ESPN’s College GameDay. Also, Meyer is fully capable of discussing Michigan without hatred riding shotgun to his every word.
Instead, we’d argue the appropriate comparison to Portnoy on the College GameDay set is Pat McAfee, a sports media personality who has added a needed dimension to the broadcast. But McAfee played football at the highest levels (for West Virginia and the Colts) and brings real insight. Also, his style of entertainment is largely innocuous. Portnoy, on the other hand, is a first-rate provocateur whose primary target happens to be Fox’s biggest college football brand.
Imagine if McAfee had graduated from Auburn and, on the GameDay set, never missed a chance to mock Alabama. Picture him walking around Bryant-Denny Stadium signing ‘War Eagle’ as the ESPN cameras captured every syllable. Imagine him calling Alabama fans idiots.
It’s difficult to envision, because it would never happen. If ESPN so much as broached the idea, the SEC would push back as forcefully as needed.
And so we wondered: Did Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti speak with Fox executives this week about Portnoy toning down his antagonism of Ohio State?
The conference offered the following statement:
“While we don’t disclose details of conversations the commissioner or conference staff has with Big Ten television partners, we can share that we routinely communicate with our partners throughout the week on all aspects of game and studio broadcasts.”
So, maybe Petitti intervened.
Or perhaps the only reason for Portnoy’s somewhat measured appearance Saturday was the change in location, from Columbus to Ames — and we should all expect him to ramp back to an 11 the next time Big Noon broadcasts from Ohio Stadium.
That would be a mistake.
Ohio State is tied to Fox into the 2030s via the Big Ten’s media rights agreement. The Portnoy situation isn’t a potential rupture point in the multi-year partnership between the network and the conference and the Buckeyes.
But it’s not nothing, either.
Given the structural advantages the Big Ten possesses in the sport’s revenue-sharing era and the expanding significance of big brands within the media ecosystem, it’s reasonable to believe Ohio State’s role as the centerpiece franchise in Fox’s portfolio will only expand over time.
The situation feels like a nugget for the back pocket, an incident for the memory banks, especially if Portnoy continues his unabashed antagonism of Ohio State and uses Fox’s platform to do it.
From here, that seems like a long-haul risk the network should avoid at all costs.
*** Previously published Hotline articles on sports media:
— The Big 12’s social media game is clever, proactive and undaunted— Pac-12 partners with The CW on media rights for 2026+— Where (and when) to find Big 12 football games this season— Low ratings, NFL conflicts make it clear: CFP calendar needs to change— Thanksgiving Eve is an open broadcast window the Big 12, Pac-12 should exploit— Fox’s friday night strategy and the future of sports on TV— Explaining the Big Ten’s TV selection process
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