Front Office Sports has reported that Fox Sports and Barstool Sports have reached an agreement to bring Dave Portnoy to Big Noon Kickoff. The show is Fox Sports’ flagship college sports program, and it competes directly with ESPN’s College GameDay.
The development comes after Fox Sports didn’t renew the contract of Joy Taylor following the cancellation of her show, “Speak”.
REPORT: Fox Sports & Barstool are nearing a deal that would include Dave Portnoy on Big Noon Kickoff, @FOS reports🍿https://t.co/gtGBblVX9h pic.twitter.com/8OgFw3e0lz
— On3 (@On3sports) July 16, 2025
Fans have seen this as an attempt by Fox Sports to compete with its rival network. Some think this is meant to give Big Noon Kickoff a blunt personality on screen, like College GameDay has with Pat McAfee.
“This is their desperate attempt to match Pat McAfee on Gameday and it is NOT gonna work out,” Wrote one fan.
Other fans seemed confused as to why Portnoy would join Fox Sports.
“Dave is a Michigan fan and Big Noon Kickoff just goes wherever Ohio State is. This doesn’t even make sense,” wondered one fan.
“He should have to publicly acknowledge Ohio State as the premier B10 program before being allowed on Big Noon,” joked another person.
There were all kinds of criticisms.
“Are they trying to lower their viewership?” Said a fan who doesn’t seem to find Dave Portnoy endearing
“Big noon asked “how can we make people hate us even more?” echoed someone else
“Well that will be a reason to watch something else,” claimed one fan.
$150M worth Portnoy (per Celebrity Net Worth) would join a cast that already has Urban Meyer, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram, Chris “The Bear” Fallica, and Rob Stone on it.
Matt Leinart reacts to reports of Dave Portnoy joining the show
One of the first reactions to come from the current roster of Big Noon Kickoff was that of Matt Leinart. He simply replied to Front Office Sports’ tweet on X with an emoji of a pair of looking eyes.
— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) July 16, 2025
Front Office Sports believes that with this move, Fox Sports might be attempting to target the 18 to 34-year-old male demographic. It’s no secret that the rise of non-politically correct influencers who target Gen Z followers has been on the rise in the last few years, and this move could be an attempt by the sports network to jump on this train. This trend has helped make Portnoy’s own platform, Barstool Sports, highly successful.
It’s also pretty obvious to those reporting the rumors that Dave Portnoy could be Fox Sports’ reply to Pat McAfee on College GameDay. As Nick Saban was ESPN’s reply to Urban Meyer on Big Noon Kickoff.
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