Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is reportedly nearing an expansive deal with Fox Sports through which he would appear on its “Big Noon” pregame show. The agreement would also include Barstool content being featured on the FS1 network, which reportedly canceled three of its weekday programs this week. The exact parameters of the potential deal, which was first reported by Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports on Wednesday afternoon, are not yet known.
If an agreement is reached, Portnoy would be joining a cast that includes Rob Stone, Urban Meyer, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram and Chris “The Bear” Fallica.
“These are nothing more than rumors at this point,” Portnoy said in a post on X.
Content from Barstool Sports would reportedly fill some of the airtime on FS1 that was previously held by “Breakfast Ball,” “The Facility” and “Speak,” all of which were reportedly canceled this week. Concurrent with this news was the report that Joy Taylor’s contract with the company would not be renewed, resulting in her exit from the network. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported that top Barstool personalities such as Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz would appear leading into Colin Cowherd at noon.
Barstool Sports previously produced the “Barstool Van Talk” show for ESPN that lasted for one episode before being taken off the airwaves in 2017. The company has an array of sports and entertainment programming with original podcasts such as “Pardon My Take,” “Spittin’ Chiclets” and “The Unnamed Show” featuring personalities who resonate in the digital space. ESPN has added sports talk studio content through licensing deals in recent years, including a multiplatform agreement with former Barstool Sports personality Pat McAfee for 235 episodes per year.
“Big Noon Kickoff” is set to open the 2025 season from Columbus where the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes will face the Texas Longhorns in an interconference matchup. The “Big Noon Kickoff” show will travel to Ames, Iowa and Evanston, Ill. for the ensuing two weeks as the property features teams within the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences.
