Dave Portnoy ‘could see’ a future for Barstool in White House press room

Dave Portnoy isn’t Donald Trump’s press secretary, but that doesn’t mean Barstool Sports couldn’t end up in the White House briefing room.

The Trump administration has introduced a “new media” seat in the press corps, designed to give podcast hosts, TikTok influencers, and other digital personalities a presence in White House briefings. Critics argue it’s less about broadening media access and more about stacking the room with loyalists.

Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele has already taken the seat. Could Barstool be next?

“I think I could build a powerful news outlet because it’s all about trust,” Portnoy told Fox News Digital. “A lot of young people don’t trust traditional media, and they trust somebody like me because I’ve been talking to them for 20 years.”

Portnoy was also asked about The New York Times Magazine’s recent article, “How the ‘Manosphere’ Became Mainstream Entertainment,” which linked Barstool’s rise to broader cultural trends. He dismissed it as a “simplistic” take on his brand.

But the bigger question remained: could Portnoy see Barstool Sports making its way into the White House press corps?

Given the way things are trending, would anyone really be surprised?

“It’s interesting because a lot of people say we’re political,” Portnoy says. “We try to stay out of politics. Possibly. I mean, we still kind of consider ourselves a comedy site at times — sometimes more serious than not. It’ll be interesting to see what happens after Trump, [and] what they do with that media room, but yeah, I could see it. I do think there’s a spot for a younger generation to consume news from a very different type of person.

“Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, they’re all new — and people just consume media a lot different than they used to. And I don’t know if the mainstream media has really caught up to that. It just opens doors for people to consume media, whether it’s a podcast or [Joe] Rogan or whatever it is. You don’t have, you know, you’re either getting your information from the local newspaper or like the local network TV. Now, there’s a million different ways to get it.”

According to Portnoy, you should never know what an outlet will say based on the outlet itself.

“But you do,” he admitted. “That’s why people don’t trust it. And even, why does my crowd trust me? Because they’ve heard me say things that, like the New York Times author [Willy Staley], if you probably asked, ‘How’s Dave feel about this issue, this issue, this issue?’ They’d probably be wrong like 50 percent of the time. So, yeah, why would you trust anybody if you’re already know what they’re going to think, regardless of the issue, before you even ask the question?”

If unpredictability builds trust, Portnoy might argue that Barstool deserves a seat at the table.

Whether the White House press corps is ready for it or not is an entirely different question.