Dave Portnoy Says Ohio State Pushed Him Off Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy says Ohio State is the reason he is no longer part of Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff.” In an interview with Front Office Sports published Monday, Oct. 5, Portnoy said Fox called to tell him he was out and gave a two-word explanation: “Ohio State.” The Deseret News reported that neither Ohio State nor Fox has publicly confirmed his version of events.

The split became public late last week. The Deseret News, citing The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, reported that Portnoy and Barstool would no longer appear on the Saturday college football pregame show, and that the decision came less than 24 hours before the program went live from Minneapolis ahead of Michigan’s game against Minnesota. Portnoy told Front Office Sports he learned the news by phone on Thursday.

Portnoy, a Michigan alum and prominent booster, quickly put the blame on Ohio State coach Ryan Day in a social media post, saying the school had complained to the Big Ten and threatened Fox. “Juice wasn’t worth the squeeze,” he wrote, adding that he did not blame the network given the money involved.

In the interview, Portnoy described what he sees as a long-running campaign. He said Fox executives visiting Columbus were shown a 30- to 45-minute highlight tape of him criticizing Ohio State and Day, and that after complaints he was sidelined or sent to a different location for three or four shows over two years. He said he was told to skip a planned trip to Columbus two weeks ago because, in his telling, the school said it would not cooperate with the show if he appeared. Portnoy said he has never spoken with the Big Ten or Ohio State directly, and that he has heard Day believes Portnoy “doxxed” him, which he disputes. Those are Portnoy’s accounts; Front Office Sports said it had asked Ohio State, the Big Ten and Fox Sports for comment.

He also played down his role on the broadcast. “I wasn’t even on the show that much, to be honest, it was like, what, 10 minutes of airtime?” Portnoy said.

The partnership was a high-profile bet when Fox announced it in July 2025. The Deseret News reports that it was designed in part to answer Pat McAfee’s success on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” and that Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks called Barstool “authentic, bold, and original.” “Big Noon Kickoff” went on to have its most-watched season in 2025. The paper also notes that Fox pays the most under the Big Ten’s seven-year, $7 billion media-rights deal, which helps explain why tension with the conference’s most valuable football brand carried weight.

Not everything is ending. Portnoy told Front Office Sports that, as far as he knows, Barstool’s weekday FS1 show “Wake Up Barstool” is “all systems go,” and the Deseret News reported, citing Marchand, that the show will keep its current time slot. Barstool’s own college football show also continues, and UConn athletic director David Benedict publicly welcomed Portnoy’s idea of bringing it to Hartford.

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Verification: Portnoy’s removal from “Big Noon Kickoff,” his comments and the background on Fox’s Barstool partnership were reported by Front Office Sports (Oct. 5) and the Deseret News (Oct. 5). Claims about Ohio State’s role are Portnoy’s and have not been confirmed by the school or Fox.