Dave Portnoy clarifies threats to move Barstool out of New York City

For months, Dave Portnoy has threatened to move Barstool Sports out of New York City following the election of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Portnoy has alternated between glib rants about Mamdani being a supposed Communist or antisemite and actual business plans to pull Barstool from the city where it has had studio space and offices for more than a decade. The Barstool boss has even threatened to run for mayor against the popular Democratic Socialist.

In response, Barstool talent based in New York have begun to openly worry about their status at the company.

In a video posted on social media Friday, Portnoy articulated his clearest explanation yet of Barstool’s future in New York and, more broadly, how he evaluates the company’s need for office space in its current form.

“Yes, I hate having a business in New York City in a city where the mayor openly hates entrepreneurs, hates business. That drives me nuts,” he said. “And Mamdani benefits by me staying there and companies staying there.”

The problem, however, is not urgent. Portnoy has said the company’s lease lasts through 2029, when Mamdani’s current term is set to end.

Here is my 8 minute somewhat rambling take on the future of the NYC office https://t.co/BlL70LxUCR pic.twitter.com/Q1uDDa370f

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) July 10, 2026

Mamdani was elected last fall and has made efforts to raise the city’s corporate tax rate. The mayor has also been an outspoken advocate on behalf of the Palestinian people amid the crisis in Israel.

But Portnoy’s larger point centered on Barstool talent not making use of the New York office space and on the evolving nature of the company, where Portnoy allows star creators to operate what he called “mini-businesses” and run their own schedules.

“Nobody’s in the New York office; I don’t think people are in there using the office,” he said.

“I can’t just tell people, ‘Make better content, do better stuff.’ I can look at effort and trying … and being in the office clearly is good for creating content. That is what has made Barstool Barstool for a long time. You have the pen of misfits, the bullpen, the weirdos, the wild people, all in there, playing off each other, making viral videos, making viral content.”

Indeed, whether in blog form, in live shows, or through video content, Barstool’s circus has long worked because creators give the audience insights into relationship and business dynamics. That is harder to do if more people record content from home or in separate spaces.

Portnoy reiterated that he will not mandate that talent come into the office, but he wants it available to anyone who wants it.

Barstool’s New York offices are currently home to newer Barstool hits like Plan Bri Uncut and Chicks In the Office as well as Barstool originals like Adam “Rone” Ferrone and John Feitelberg. But Portnoy believes that unless those stars continually interact with other talent in the office, the company does not benefit from what it pays to keep the space.

Ultimately, it sounds as if Portnoy does not want to completely pull out of New York, leaving his employees hanging.

“If I feel people are putting in an honest effort, and not just openly giving me the bird, I feel responsible for that,” he said.

“Yes, I feel a responsibility for them, to keep this thing going. But then you look at the New York office, who’s in it. It’s not like I would shut it down necessarily to punish people.”