Dave Portnoy says ‘Barstool College Football Show’ still banned from Ohio State

Dave Portnoy is in Columbus, Ohio, this week for Big Noon Kickoff before Saturday’s showdown between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Illinois Fighting Illini.

His compatriots from the Barstool College Football Show will not be accompanying him, as he claims they’ve been banned from broadcasting in OSU’s stadium.

“We asked, and Ohio said we’re still not allowed,” Portnoy said on X Thursday.

Portnoy later said that “The Horseshoe is soft for not letting you in” and that “not since the days of Roger Goodell have we seen some institution figurehead just not get it as much as Ohio State.”

As part of their partnership with Fox, the Barstool show sometimes broadcasts live from the campus of that Saturday’s Big Noon game. 

All of this drama continues from last season, when it was initially reported that Ohio State was banning Portnoy from Ohio Stadium, meaning he could not appear during the final hour of Big Noon Kickoff, which moves from campus to inside the stadium. The school tried to put the ball in Fox’s court; Portnoy confirmed it was at Ohio State’s behest. Barstool’s college football show was also included in that ban.

Now, Portnoy and Barstool are not innocent victims of the whims of a football program run amok. Portnoy, the Barstool boss and Michigan Man, has put a lot of energy into his public disdain for the Buckeyes, including shots that go beyond genial rivalry trash talk (though he’s offered plenty of that).

In 2023, he said OSU head coach Ryan Day would be suspended because he had been “caught cheating and for far worse” than anything Jim Harbaugh did, though nothing ever came of that. Then, in 2025, Portnoy claimed he knew of an “Ohio State mole” who stole data and illegally recorded Conor Stalions, leading to the Michigan sign-stealing scandal. He amplified rumors suggesting that Day hired his own brother’s private investigation firm to look into Michigan during the scandal. No proof ever showed that anyone affiliated with OSU was involved in any of that.

And of course, Ohio State isn’t alone among Big Ten schools uninterested in hosting Portnoy or his Barstool brethren.

Maybe you see it as sour grapes from Ohio State. Maybe you see it as a fair ask, considering its biggest TV partner hired a guy who spent much of the show trashing their program. This is apparently what Fox wanted when it signed on with Barstool, so clearly they’re fine with it.