Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy previously had a cordial relationship with Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, but it seems like that’s no longer the case, and Portnoy is blaming another Barstool personality over the fallout.
Portnoy has attended several Fever games, describing himself as a “huge fan” of the Fever. He also says that he maintained a close relationship with Clark, calling her “one of my favorite athletes.” However, that relationship seems to have soured recently.
During a recent episode of Barstool Live, Portnoy revealed that the WNBA superstar blocked him across all platforms after an interaction he had on the phone with a member of the McCaffery family.
Clark, who rose to superstardom during her time at Iowa, is currently dating former Iowa Hawkeyes star Connor McCaffery, the son of former Iowa men’s basketball head coach Fran McCaffery. Portnoy recently made some comments about the state of the Iowa basketball program, pointing out that it “took 1 year for them to go further than their entire 17-year run with Fran,” under new head coach Ben McCollum.
That comment seemed to bother the McCaffery family, and they let Portnoy know about it through Barstool Sports personality Rico Bosco, who has a relationship with the family. Portnoy said that during a recent dinner, Bosco handed him the phone to speak to Connor’s brother, who expressed frustration about what Portnoy said about his father. The problem is, Portnoy did not know who he was talking to and presumably did not handle the conversation well as a result.
Rico Bosco cost me my relationship with Caitlin Clark. I’ll never forgive him. pic.twitter.com/LygpdujADl
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 3, 2026
“He put a McCaffery in front of me on a cell phone, I didn’t know who I was talking to, and he was like ‘I don’t like what you guys have been saying about my dad,’ and I’m like ‘Who am I even talking to?'” Portnoy said.
Following that interaction, Portnoy says that Clark has blocked him across all mediums, and he can no longer communicate with her.
“She blocked me. Caitlin Clark has blocked me and is now not responding to me,” Portnoy said.
Portnoy said that before that interaction, Clark was planning to meet up with them during the Final Four in Indianapolis and probably would have even been on the show they were currently filming.
“I was going to do a pizza review with her in Indianapolis. Blocked me,” Portnoy said. “The phone went to green. I DM’d her, no response. She always responds.”
Portnoy places the blame squarely on Bosco.
“You cost me a Caitlin Clark relationship,” Portnoy said to Bosco. “You cost me my No. 1 relationship.”
Bosco claimed that he will “work on it” and “figure it out.” But for now, Clark has Portnoy blocked, and the Barstool Sports founder claims that on an anger scale of 1-10, he is “an 11 or 12.”
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